Apology by text message
Almost every day here, I get a text message in Chinese from the number 10086. This is a general service number which sends out promotional messages from the phone company and also public service announcements from the government - eg "Traffic's bad on such-and-such road in Beijing" or "It's going to be very cold tomorrow".
Usually you just ignore these messages. But at 9.19pm on Thursday night, something more interesting from 10086 landed in my in-box.
"Today 22 dairy companies including Sanlu have this message for you: We are very sorry to have caused harm to all children and society because of the problematic milk powder. We offer our sincere apologies, and plead for forgiveness. We have resolved to learn the lessons from this and to make sure that no substandard products are made in the future. We welcome supervision from all walks of society. We are operating a compensation system for the families of the sick babies, and are setting up a medical fund for more treatment for those who recover from kidney disease. We wish you and your family a happy new year."
As you may have guessed, this message refers to a story which first broke in September. Baby milk formula in China was found to be contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Six babies died and tens of thousands more were treated for kidney stones.
This week, executives from the Sanlu dairy group went on trial. But dairy companies clearly felt that they needed a more direct way of saying sorry. So they used 10086.
But for some parents, text message apologies, trials, and compensation funds aren't enough.
Earlier today, a group of parents whose children got sick from contaminated milk powder invited the foreign media to a news conference at a hotel in Beijing. In China, the decision to speak publicly to international reporters on a sensitive topic carries a certain degree of risk. The police will want to know who's talking and what they're saying.
I went with a colleague to the parents' news conference. Things began badly -the parents we met told us that the police had stopped five of their group from attending. Then, the hotel decided not to allow the remaining parents to speak to us inside the lobby. So we all went outside into the cold. A security guard shooed us away from the hotel's foreground car park. We gathered again by a nearby, non-descript wall. A police car parked nearby.
"We are here today to claim rights for our babies," said Lan Juanxian, the mother of 14-month-old twin sons who were both diagnosed with kidney stones.
"Our babies have been diagnosed with kidney stones, but we don't know what other diseases they will contract when they grow up. We know that the government has a compensation plan. My babies can get 2000 yuan ($290) according to the plan. But I can't accept that amount. The money I spent on Sanlu's milk powder is much more than that. Plus my babies have not fully recovered. What about the future?"
"We are consumers. According to laws, we have every right to ask the dairy companies to do something for us," said Jiang Yalin, whose 17-month-old daughter was diagnosed with kidney stones.
"The dairy companies are the ones to blame because they added toxic materials to their products. The government is good since it provides free medical diagnosis and treatment for our babies. I think it is a responsible government... although we don't agree with the current compensation plan, the government is starting to press the companies to set up a medical fund. I believe they can do it better in the future."
A news conference like this one tends to be covered by two sets of people: reporters, and smartly-dressed men filming the reporters.
From experience, it's fair to assume that the people filming the reporters are plain-clothes police officers. At this news conference, I counted around half a dozen men hovering around, taking pictures of the event.
They didn't interfere with our work - Chinese law states that foreign reporters need only the consent of their interviewees, not the police. Instead, their task appeared to be to document the news conference in as much detail as possible. So, as one man took a picture of me, I took a picture of him.
The parents say that they will continue their campaign for full, long-term medical treatment for their children. I'll let you know if I get any more interesting texts from 10086.
I’m 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~19~RS~)
CommentsSign in
You need to sign in to contribute to this page. If you're new to BBC Blogs, creating your membership is quick and easy.
Good to have you back James!
It seems a bit unnecessary that the police would need to interfere with a press conference like this and stop 5 people from attending. It doesn't seem to be a threat to anyone, just some parents sharing their grief.
It seems kind of cool to have this text message service, I don't think we have anything like this in Australia. It seems a nice gesture from the company to openly apologize in this way. It makes a nice change from Chinese history which seems to prefer denying mistakes...
Complain about this comment
Glad you are back. Happy New Year!
For Chinese parents, their child deserves best care and treatment, given the only one child they are allowed to raise.
2000 yuan compensation? unbelievable. What a 'generous' gesture of sympathy!
Complain about this comment
Funny
The "plain-clothes police officer" took a picture of you using a mobile phone. I thought they were better equiped.
I hope you used a better device to film him.
Complain about this comment
I'm not a fan of the western media, as may have been highlighted by my many previous posts.
But I think where issues relating to human rights of ordinary Chinese citizens arise, and are not adequetly covered by the domestic media, then I think that the presence of foreign media organisations in China is justified - and thus would to thank the author of this blog for some of the work he does.
Complain about this comment
I understand the anger of those parents but apparently, apart from the trials and apologies, what they are asking for is more compensation for further medical treatments.
Hence, I am not sure why James says that for some parents, the trials, apologies and compensations are not good enough for them.
Those who should be held responsible will be prosecuted according to law, and the companies are issuing their apologies, plus the free medical treatments have been provided by the government and compensation fund is being set up. I really don't know what else James expects.
There is no way to totally comfort those parents and their children who suffered from this horrible incident and it will be utterly difficult for them to forgive. But that doesn't mean there is anything more to do.
Complain about this comment
Big Brother in the limelight.
I must say it is indeed quite hilarious what you did, James.
Complain about this comment
Happy New Years, James.
Complain about this comment
A stupid is, a stupid does!
Complain about this comment
?The government is good since it provides free medical diagnosis and treatment for our babies. I think it is a responsible government...?
Correct. It is simply illogical to blame a corporate misconduct to the government.
Besides, I think the intolerance of this blog harms the image of BBC.
Complain about this comment
An excellent example of high moral society.
Complain about this comment
Question is - is apolozing by text message less sincere than being apologetic in person or in front of cameras?
Complain about this comment
For the companies to provide "full, long-term medical treatment" is just and fair to me.
The government need to do much more than they have been doing, because they failed miserably in this regard.
Complain about this comment
James:
I know, it must be a very good thing; for the country to used text messages as a way to get out the breaking information out to a massive amount of people in 'seconds'....
Thanks for the update....
~Dennis Junior~
Complain about this comment
I am a UK citizen living and working here in China. From my direct experience all this is eyewash and a very insulting eyewash at that. Do not believe anything you hear from official sources. Losing face is not an option here. China made, created and sustains the world----go figure!
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Since when has any government got compensation packages right?
Thalidomide, Abervan you name it. The victims and families are still suffering or disadvantaged by these things.
What I see in China is a move toward a greater if cautious openness.
Of course they want to control the publicity. They are used to controlling and it?s difficult to let go.
How does the handling here compare with our own handling of the ?mad cow? issue? The victims are still happening.
People are on trial. People that deliberately allowed contaminated food to be given to babies. I?m not sure any punishment is going to be enough for the parents.
Don?t like what I am seeing but the reaction is positive.
Complain about this comment
James:
[The parents say that they will continue their campaign for full, long-term medical treatment for their children.]
I hope and think that these parents should campaign for full and long-term medical treatment....
~Dennis Junior~
Complain about this comment
This kind of report will sell itself very well in western countries.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
What these parents are engaging in reminds me a yong man whose name is Yangjia, who was cruelly maltreated by China's police at the beginning. After a couple of years' complaint continuously to relevant authorities, he despaired and became a killer of six police accountable because of the lack of justice.
Then, What is justice? To a start, Justice lies in everyone's heart , it's a social agreement that includes but beyond the law because new problems never stop occurring, at which point free media is essential to help us come to an accord. On the other hand , the jurisdiction should be independent that's the bottom line of a fair society. The law court should play a role of the third party that's insulated from either parties concerned. The judge should not say that your accusation is unacceptable because we have got a mandate from the communist party.
unfortunately, what is happening in China now is arbitrarily blocking the freedom of speech and manipulating the legal system. I'm afraid millions of victims(those poor babies and their families) sooner of later will become unnumerable Yangjia. It's time to turf away the communist party.
Complain about this comment
Hey James, thanks for the entry.
Compensation is received well by some and not by others. There will definitely be those who are not compensated enough, and hopefully they would get their just deserves. Unfortunately to those 6 who lost their children, no compensation is ever enough.
The future circumstantial side effects reminds me of the drug trials that went wrong over here.
Complain about this comment
This system needs to be updated. How can a person comment intelligently without knowing what previous bloggers have written? Anyway.
Three points. It's the 21st century. It's China. It's the modern technology age, and using text messages was probably the fastest way to get their apology out to the maximum number of people. Certainly publishing it in the print media, etc. would have reached far fewer citizens. As for the sincerity of the apology, I doubt if any chinese will fall for that. So, life goes on, just at a faster pace.
Complain about this comment
Although sometimes you cover the factor that domestic press never reports, I still think whenever you write the articles you have a prejudice against China which I don't like.
Complain about this comment
If I was Chinese I would make sure there was plenty of "plain-clothes police officers" following you about James and what your reporting. Like they do in the UK on any sensitive matter.
I think James you would rub people up less if you changed your style of reporting and moved away from making a bigger deal out of something.
Yes no doubt the victims are getting a raw deal and something need to be done about it, but your way is just using them a vessel to stick the knife in China, when the UK does exactly the same thing but do a better job of covering it up.
Also a I'm a firm believer if you read one blog and take it all in may be you should read other blogs to keep a balanced approach.
Some good reading to be found at this blog I'm linking to.
Certainly opens your eyes, specially to the BBC operations.
http://jackgrantham.blogspot.com/
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Whoa. What an eye-opener!
Having read the above posts, I would be grateful if somebody could tell me whether this blog is behind the great fire wall in China.
I hope the victims be duly awarded the compensatory damages that they deserve. Just wondering, what's the rationale behind not letting some of the grieving parents inside?
Thanks
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
It's hard for a government to give a compensation plan satisfactory for every victims in such widespread case, but anyway, the government must do better.
It's really a tremendous scandal for China. It will take us a very, very long time to recover from it.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Are you sure that the "smartly-dressed men" were taking pictures of the reporters? Or, were they taking pictures of the parents? Should there be follow-up of the parents? Just remembering Tiananmen Square.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
It appears that a seventh child has now died as a result of the milk adulteration.
Complain about this comment
Jame:
one of your details are wrong. as i am a chinese, i talk to you. The government has a compensation plan,every baby can get 200.000 RMB.not you said 2.000 RMB
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
View these comments in RSS