GROWING AWARENESS

With a population of more than 1.3 billion that are divided by development and resources gaps, China has long been taking rights for existence and development opportunities as priority for human rights development.

People's awareness of political rights and desire to articulate their voices, however, are rising as decades of economic boom has resulted in a more educated population, easier access to information and multiple channels or platforms to express their opinions.

And people's awareness is not restricted to their own benefits. They are showing greater interest in examining official power and behavior. Notably, Internet and emerging widely accessible social networking services (SNS) like microblogs are instrumental contributors to this trend.

The country's online community celebrated their victory in September after their muckraking campaign felled a work safety official, Yang Dacai, in Shaanxi Province, who was stripped of official post and is under investigation for suspected corruption.

Yang was initially criticized for smiling at the scene of a deadly traffic accident site but his real trouble came after online critics turned their attention to his wrist: skeptical netizens spotted from online images of Yang that he had more than 10 pricy watches and, as the muckrakers went deeper into his life, they found expensive glasses, suits and other possessions beyond a civil servant's affordability.

Yang's fall might be a nightmare for other officials, but it has become impossible for them to escape public scrutiny when new mass communication channels make it possible for the public to exercise their rights to supervise power and voice their opinions.

Protests are not the only way that Chinese people have learned to use to challenge authority and seek their rights.

In Qiaojia County, Yunnan Province, a farmer father is suing local police authorities, seeking a public apology and compensation of 2 million yuan (about 315,000 U.S. dollars) for naming his innocent son as a suspect in a deadly explosion in May that also killed the 26-year-old man, Zhao Dengyong.

The local police proposed a package of 60,000 yuan for "comfort" after the young man was cleared of involvement, but the family rejected the offer.

The compensation demand stirred a controversy of overcharging but the family insisted that they deserve reasonable payment considering their beloved one's smeared reputation and their spiritual loss.

The interpretation of Lan He, the family's lawyer, might be helpful for the doubters and authorities to understand the case, though they may unnecessarily agree on the compensation demand: "We should no longer see the social class of farmers through old glasses. Actually, they have wakened up to their rights," Lan said.

"The controversy over the compensation reflects that some people remain where they were decades ago, while the farmers are making progress (in the understanding of human rights)," Lan said.