When I did newspaper work in the 1950s I always found it hard to initiate criticism of a person. Now, in the late 1970s, I suddenly find it has become hard to praise a person. Take, for example, the case of Liu Jie, an inspector of the neighborhood registry in the Daxing’anling district of Heilongjiang, who was praised in the press for sticking to principles. She also had the support of the Provincial Party Committee. But it was precisely the commendation of the Party newspaper that brought calamity upon her, and the support of the provincial leadership was of no use in breaking the siege that befell her.
2006 , Binyan Liu, “Listen Carefully to the Voice of the People”, in Kyna Rubin, Perry Link, transl., edited by Perry Link, Two Kinds of Truth: Stories and Reportage from China, Indiana University Press, page 34