“To prevent any commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, Chinese officials filled the plaza with police officers, shut down 160 websites for ’system maintenance,’ blocked access to Twitter, and prevented activists from leaving their homes. ‘They won’t even allow me to go out and buy vegetables,’ said Ding Zillin, whose son was killed in the protests. A man in Shenzen lost his hand when it was torn off at the wrist during a tug-of-war match at a beach, and researchers who recently learned that a fluid excreted by maggots helps the bugs consume decaying flesh, said wounds would one day be treated with an ointment that contains the ‘essence of maggot.’”
Harper’s Weekly at its best! Subscribe and view archives online.
