Mystery over lone vote against Xi
An overwhelming 2,952 delegates voted "yes" to Xi Jinping becoming China's new president on Thursday - but it was the lone "no" vote that attracted attention and sparked debate on China's main social media website.
An overwhelming 2,952 delegates voted "yes" to Xi Jinping becoming China's new president on Thursday - but it was the lone "no" vote that attracted attention and sparked debate on China's main social media website.
Discussion of the "mysterious" voter continued on Sina Weibo yesterday even after the word "no vote" was censored as a search term on China's Twitter-like service.
For some commenters, it brought to mind the fate of a delegate widely believed to have voted "no" when Mao Zedong was elected head of the new communist government in 1949.
According to some historical accounts, Zhang Dongsun, a philosopher and former CPPCC delegate, was destroyed by Chairman Mao for his alleged actions. He was accused of selling national secrets a few years after Mao's election, and expelled from the CPPCC.
Aged 82, Zhang was arrested in 1968, two years into the Cultural Revolution. His family was not informed of his whereabouts or situation until 1973, when they were notified that Zhang had died in Beijing's Qincheng prison.
Were they embarrassed the percentage was so high?" he wondered. "Or was it still not high enough
Two of Zhang's three sons committed suicide during the Cultural Revolution. The other was arrested and tortured.