Wu Guangqiang

    jw368@163.com

    SANG LAN became a household name in China after tragedy befell her. During warm-ups for the vault event final at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, she, only 17 then, fell and was injured; the result of the injury was paralysis from the mid-chest down. She has been wheelchair-bound ever since.

    If it was sympathy that made Sang popular, then it was her brave struggle and her brilliant smile that won her even greater admiration. On Aug. 29, 2003, Xinhua ran a feature article titled “Smiling Sang Lan,” praising her optimistic spirit and unswerving enthusiasm.

    She had become a symbol of courage overseas. While she was undergoing rehabilitation in New York, she captured the hearts of Americans, and many called her a “brave and incredible young lady.”

    Every step forward in her life makes whoever cares about her happy. In 2002, she was admitted to Peking University, which helped her realize her dream of going to college. In 2013, she got married and the following year, she gave birth to a baby boy.

    But her positive image has turned sour since she blamed her injury on her Romanian coach, who, she claimed, suddenly removed a mattress after her push-off. Rumors about her false accusation of the son of Xie Xiaohong, her guardian in the U.S., for raping her during her stay at her home, further impaired her reputation.

    To add more fuel to the fire, an article on Xinhua’s website seemed to serve as a fatal blow for Sang by depicting her as a hardened liar who had been telling lies for 17 years.

    In an article entitled “The Report on the Truth of Sang Lan’s Injury” released on Nov. 26, Xinhua tried to justify why it was reopening 17-year-old wounds by saying that her interest-driven lies have hurt innocent people.

    The article pointed out that right after the incident, both the official investigators and Sang herself agreed that the injury was an accident with no other unsafe factors involved. The insurance company accepted the investigation results and agreed to pay her compensation. But later Sang accused Romanian coach Octavian Belu of causing her injury.

    The article refuted Sang’s “fabrication” in great details, making itself look like a forensic report. A video clip filmed on the spot, the article said, clearly showed that Belu did nothing to disturb Sang, but that he was actually the first person to help Sang.

    The writer of the article must have felt relieved after making the truth known to the public and clearing the innocent.

    But did the writer ever wonder if it was fair to depict Sang as a deliberate cheater regardless of complications surrounding the incident?

    Sang was still a child when she was injured and accused of someone of causing her injury. If she did wrongly accuse others, we don’t know who or what else might have caused her to make the claims. There is no way of knowing if she was intentionally slandering anyone or if she made a mistake.

    Without convincingly pinpointing Sang’s motive for framing others, the article has aroused suspicion over the reason for such harsh criticism of a paralyzed woman.

    As Sang said in her posts responding to the article, she hasn’t bothered the State since her injury and has basically relied on herself and her supporters to overcome all difficulties. She doesn’t understand why someone is targeting her.

    As an adult now, she may make mistakes now and then since she is a human being, but to bring her down for her faults with so much fanfare is totally inappropriate.

    Forgiveness and tolerance make the world better. Of course, if Sang did wrong others, she should apologize to the victims, which would most likely win her even more fans.

    (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)