Recently there was a remarkable Chinese online "first" from the city of Rui'an, in China's prosperous province Zhejiang just south of Shanghai. Chinese internet users posted a large number of videos of what -- even for Chinese standards -- was a major riot in that city.
Tens of thousands of students and other citizens took to the street after police declared the death of teacher Dai Haijing a suicide. Her students blamed both the police and her husband for covering up what they believe is a murder.
On Tuesday it looked like Chinese government could effectively remove those videos, but then they popped up everywhere.
While these videos are rather poor quality, compared to photos of the demonstrations, the videos do offer additional value. Seeing policemen beating up presumed innocent bystanders transmits a far more powerful message than still photos can offer.
Furthermore, the videos provide extra information about the riot for former professional riotwatchers like me. The police appeared pretty well equipped with riot gear and tear gas. That's different from other heavy-handed riots in China, where sometimes local government rounded up one mob to attack another.
But in terms of organization, the Rui'an riot police did a pretty bad job. As the videos show, they wander around in the crowd without a clear goal, and individual policemen start hacking into bystanders without any clear reason. There is no clear line dividing riot police from the crowd. Also, at first glance there is no effort to control individual police officers.
So in yet another way, China has joined the modern era.
