Blogger versus blogger lawsuit settled

Shanghaiist mentioned China's first blogger versus blogger lawsuit several weeks ago, and since then, the case has been pending and we haven't heard much about it until just now. To refresh your memory, Shen Yang accused blogger Qin Chen (real name Zhang Ming) of libelous, defamatory remarks about him on his blog. Zhang Ming is a recent university graduate and said that Shen Yang started it, and that people who've been trolling the blogosphere enough know that Shen Yang is an arrogant asshole who deserved whatever criticism he received. When the case first started Shen Yang wanted 100,000 RMB and 30 days of public apologies, but according to this report (in Chinese), Shen Yang did win the case, but all he got was 1,010 yuan for public notarizing fees and an apology that Zhang Ming must put on his blog.

During the course of this situation, many people weighed in on both sides. Zhang Ming wrote an essay (in Chinese) after the verdict came out, defending what he'd done and claiming that while Shen Yang might have the legal aspect of this battle, that a lot of people out there think that he's an asshole and a hypocrite and that he's ruined his own reputation in the blogosphere for good.

That first article (in Chinese), after discussing the Shen Yang/Qin Chen case, mentions the Chinabounder situation as well as the Xiao Qiong controversy. In the case of the former, the article repeats information similar to what can be found in other articles -- that the AP received an email from the "performance artists" behind the hoax, that the group was comprised of foreigners as well as Chinese, and that the point of it was to test out what the Chinese reaction to the blog would be. With regards to the Xiao Qiong case, she mentions on her blog that she refused sex from the director and has now found the offer for a role in some TV show to have been negated.

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