中國網上信訪首日系統癱瘓
For centuries, China has offered its people a chance to come to Beijing to petition the emperor directly to address grievances.
幾百年來，中國一直給百姓提供一個前往京城申訴不滿的機會。But starting Monday, Chinese officials offered a new way for those not inclined to make the trip: petition online. That makes the process more convenient, said officials who spoke to state media, and allows them to track the process of their pleas.
但從週一開始，中國官員向那些無意跋涉到北京的人們提供了一個新途徑：網上信訪。有關負責人對國家媒體說，這樣會讓信訪過程更加便捷，他們也可追蹤民衆的上訪過程。As it turned out, progress was scant: The website crashed on the first day. While it came back online Monday afternoon, the morning failure triggered mockery across China＊s social media platforms, including the popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging service.
事實證明，這方面的進展十分有限。中國國家信訪局網上投訴系統第一天就出現癱瘓。雖然週一下午已恢復使用，但當天上午的癱瘓仍在新浪微博等中國社交媒體平臺上引發了網民的嘲諷。
※Sorry! Weibo brought too many people to the page,§ said Li Kaifu, CEO of Innovation Works, who has more than 46 million followers on the site.
在新浪微博上擁有4,600多萬粉絲的創新工場(Innovation Works)首席執行長李開復說：抱歉，微博帶來太多圍觀上訪者！Many Weibo users said they expected the crash due to the number of potential petitioners. Some interpreted the government＊s use of a server that couldn＊t handle the first-day traffic as a sign of insincerity.
很多新浪微博用戶說，由於潛在上訪者數量龐大，他們已料到網站會出現崩潰。對於政府使用的服務器無法處理首日流量一事，有人將其解釋爲這是缺乏誠意的表現。Petitioning, or shangfang, is the modern form of an ancient system in which people who faced injustice at home came to the capital to voice their grievances directly to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls acts as a communication channel for petitioners and the central government. While the bureau has long been criticized for a lack of effectiveness, local officials often go out of their way to keep petitioners from reaching it so as to avoid being criticized by Beijing. Hired thugs often threaten protesters or even haul them away to unofficial prisons known as black jails.
上訪是一種古老制度的現代形式。以前，人們在家鄉受到不公正的待遇時，便到帝都直接向皇上表達不滿。中國國家信訪局充當的是上訪者與中央政府之間的溝通渠道。信訪局一直被外界批評缺乏效率，而另一方面，中國地方政府官員爲了不挨中央的批評，經常“不辭辛勞”地阻止上訪者來北京。僱來的打手常會威脅上訪者，甚至把他們關進黑監獄。Many of China＊s Internet users argued that the online petitioning system, like its real-world counterpart, both suffers limitations and offers avenues for abuse. Online petitioners have to register with their verified information including national identification number, potentially exposing them to retribution. Additionally, the site only works on Internet Explorer and limits the amount of supporting materials that can be uploaded to a paltry two megabytes for each case.
很多中國網友認爲，網上信訪系統與上訪者親自赴京上訪一樣，都有侷限性，也都爲權力濫用提供了空間。網上信訪者須註冊身份證號碼等經驗證的信息，而此舉可能會讓他們遭到報復。此外，信訪局網站只支持IE瀏覽器，並且對上傳資料的大小進行限制。每件投訴事項僅可附帶小得可憐的2MB附件。Isn't it easier for local officials to suppress complaints and take revenge? said one Weibo user.
一位網友在新浪微博上說：地方官員壓制投訴和打擊報復難道不是更容易了？Some described the new system as a poor imitation of the White House＊s online petition service ※We the People,which requires only an email address to register and which recently attracted a flood of petitions from Chinese Internet users eager to mock their own government＊s lack of responsiveness.
有人說這套新系統是對美國白宮網上請願服務“我們人民”(We the People)的拙劣模仿。白宮的這項服務只需用電子郵件地址就可申請註冊，而且前不久還吸引了來自中國網友的大量請願。他們這麼做是爲了諷刺本國政府的不聞不問。The bureau chief of SBLC promised in an interview with the official Xinhua news agency that every case made through the new online service would garner a response.
信訪局局長接受中國官方通訊社新華社採訪時承諾，網上信訪要事事有着落、件件有迴音。An editorial in the Communist Party mouthpiece People＊s Daily, on the other hand, questioned whether the online service would evolve into an excuse for local officials to keep the petitioners from going to Beijing. It also asked whether the bureau will do more than simply passing on the complaints to local officials without any further accountability.
中共喉舌《人民日報》(People’s Daily)刊登的一篇評論文章則提出疑問：網上信訪是否會變成地方官員阻止民衆去北京上訪的一個藉口？此外，文章還問道：信訪局是直接將投訴交給地方官員，沒有進一步的責問，還是會不止於此？In a potentially not-good sign for responsiveness, China Real Time＊s attempts to call the only phone number on the bureau＊s website ended with a recording that said the number didn＊t exist.
“中國實時報”欄目記者按照信訪局網站上提供的唯一一個電話號碼撥了過去，聽到的卻是該號碼不存在的錄音，這大概不是個件件有迴音的好徵兆。
