And they would just stare at us with bafflement when we spend time listening to a beautiful performance, like the one we just heard because of people making stupid movements, and they would be really irritated and wouldn't see what we were up to.

But Zhao s conviction, like the mistreatment of other Chinese whistleblowers, sends the message that when faced with a perceived threat to social stability, China s legal institutions are not up to the task of providing basic protections to its citizens. A discussion thread on the case on Tianya, a popular Chinese Internet portal, was soon flooded with comments expressing bafflement and outrage at the verdict.