The family of a Chinese man who died in police custody in May has accepted a settlement offer from Beijing authorities as they struggle to contain public outrage over their handling of the incident. 5月份在被警方带走过程中丧生的一名中国男子的家人，接受了北京当局提出的和解方案，后者目前正在竭力控制这起事件的处置引发的公愤。
On December 23, officials announced their decision not to prosecute five policemen implicated in the death of Lei Yang, sparking online protests that have gone viral over the past week. The death of Lei, a university graduate who worked at a government environmental organisation, and last week’s decision not to hold the police accountable shocked urban middle-class professionals across the country. 12月23日，官方宣布了对雷洋之死所涉的五名警察不予起诉的决定。此举在网上引发了抗议，过去一周这波抗议已成燎原之势。雷洋供职于一家政府环保机构，拥有硕士学历。他的丧生、以及上周宣布的不追究警方责任的决定，震惊了全中国的城市中产阶级专业人士。
“This was a political decision rather than one based on rule-of-law,” said Hu Xingdou, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology. “All of my friends are disappointed and indignant. Lei Yang’s case reflected the reality that the rights of Chinese citizens are not protected.” 北京理工大学(Beijing Institute of Technology)教授胡星斗表示：“这是个政治决定，而不是基于法治的决定。我的朋友全都感到失望和愤怒。雷洋案反映出了中国公民权利不受保护的现实。”
On Thursday, the Lei family’s lawyer, Chen Youxi, said in a statement that his clients had accepted a settlement offer from the authorities. He quoted Lei’s parents as saying that they would abandon their earlier plans for an appeal because the pressure was “too much for two old people to bear”. Mr Chen declined to comment further when contacted by telephone. 周四，雷洋家人的律师陈有西在一份声明中表示，他的当事人已接受当局提出的和解方案。他援引雷洋父母的话称，他们之所以放弃之前的诉讼计划，是因为压力“太大……超出……两位老人的承受范围”。记者打电话与陈有西联系时，他拒绝进一步置评。
In a statement issued immediately after last week’s decision not to prosecute, Mr Chen had said that the family “would not blink until they get a fair result that can stand the test of history”. 在上周不予起诉的决定刚刚宣布后发表的声明中，陈有西曾表示他们不会退缩，直到“让雷洋案有一个公正的、经得起历史检验的结果”。
Police said that Lei, whose wife gave birth to a baby boy just one month before his death, resisted arrest for allegedly soliciting a prostitute on the night of his death — a charge his family said was inconceivable. 雷洋死前一个月，他的妻子刚刚产下一名男婴。警方表示，雷洋在丧生当晚涉嫌嫖娼并且拘捕。对于嫖娼一说，雷洋的家人表示难以置信。
Prosecutors later found that Lei had died as a result of injuries inflicted by police who were slow to seek medical treatment for him and also obstructed the subsequent investigation. Even so, they recommended that the officers involved receive only administrative punishment from Beijing’s police department, which said it regretted Lei’s death and would treat the matter “seriously”. 检方后来认定雷洋之死是由警察导致的伤害造成的，这些警察延误了将雷洋送医的时机，并妨碍随后的调查。即便如此，检方还是建议只由北京公安机关对此案所涉警察作出行政处罚。北京警方对雷洋之死表示遗憾，并称会“严肃”处理此事。
Reports of beatings and occasional deaths of migrants and petitioners at the hands of urban authorities are common. But the death of a middle-class professional has aroused widespread angst among Lei’s peers, many of whom were already feeling demoralised by chronic air pollution and the ruling Communist party’s tightening grip on civil society. 有关中国城市当局出手殴打外来务工人员和请愿者、甚至偶尔致死的报道很常见。不过，雷洋这样一位中产阶级专业人士的死亡，引发了与他背景相似的人的普遍愤慨。在这类人当中，有不少原本就对长时间的空气污染和执政的中共收紧对公民社会的控制感到沮丧。
“The Lei Yang case has had a huge public impact,” says Minxin Pei, a Chinese studies professor at Claremont McKenna College. “Expectations were high that the government would do something different this time because the circumstances were very outrageous.” 克莱尔蒙特麦克纳学院(Claremont McKenna College)研究中国问题的教授裴敏欣表示：“雷洋案对公众造成了很大的打击。大家原本满怀期待地认为，政府这次会采取不同的做法，因为这件事真的很离谱。”
As of Thursday, a petition demanding justice for Lei circulated by alumni from Lei’s alma mater, Renmin University in Beijing, had attracted 2,000 signatures, including some from people as far away as Lanzhou in north-west China. 截至周四，雷洋母校中国人民大学(Renmin University)的校友为雷洋申讨正义的请愿书已征集到2000个签名，包括来自远至中国西北兰州的人的签名。
Censors were swift to react, deleting all social media posts about the case. One Beijing-based lawyer complained that people could read about it only in traditional Chinese characters — a reference to the script used by newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan. His link to one Hong Kong newspaper report, posted on China’s most popular messaging app, was blocked with a message reading that “to keep WeChat safe for all members, this page cannot be accessed”. 审查人员迅速作出反应，删除了社交媒体上所有关于此案的帖子。北京的一名律师抱怨道，人们现在只能读到关于此案的繁体字文章——这里指的是香港和台湾报纸所用的中文字体。这名律师在中国最受欢迎的即时通信应用微信(WeChat)上发的一条港报报道的链接被封，点开后页面上写着“该网页包含不安全内容，被多人投诉。为维护绿色上网环境，已停止访问”。
Renmin University’s campus was also quiet on Thursday. Students there said they had been warned not to participate in any protests, while monitors were told to report any classroom discussions about the case. 周四，人大的校园也很安静。学生们表示，他们被告诫不要参加任何抗议，学生干部们则被告知班级里进行的任何与此案有关的讨论都要上报。
Prof Pei said that Lei’s tragedy had forced the Communist party to choose between angering urban residents and punishing the police. “China is entering a very difficult period,” he said, with economic growth slowing and President Xi Jinping preparing for a leadership transition at the end of 2017. “The government doesn’t want to antagonise the police at the moment it needs them the most. 裴敏欣教授表示，雷洋的悲剧迫使中共在激怒城市居民与惩处警方之间做出选择。“中国正步入一个非常困难的时期，”他说，随着经济不断放缓，而国家主席习近平又在为2017年底的领导层换届做准备，“政府不希望在最需要警方的时候引起警方的不满。”
“They know they have the means to deal with the public blowback,” he added. “They can go after the petition leaders, intimidate and threaten them, and it will blow over.” “他们知道他们有办法应对公众的反弹，”他补充道，“他们可以瞄准请愿活动的带头人、恐吓和威胁他们，事情会过去的。”
One Beijing intellectual said he was “more afraid than angry” about the Lei case, but believed it would have at least one positive outcome. “Lei cried for help alone. Now we are all crying out for him.” 北京的一名知识分子表示，对于雷洋案，他“恐惧多于愤怒”，但他相信这件事至少会有一个积极的结果。“雷洋是独自呼救。现在我们都在为他呼喊。”
Additional reporting by Archie Zhang Archie Zhang补充报道
译者/何黎
