Rule by law or rule of law?

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hi,mylotters!~ i'm very sorry for a tragic accident happened in China, Hangzhou recently, and so are thousands of Chinese. For some reasons, this common accident has been turned into the Hangzhou incident. When I first read about the Hangzhou incident, I was outraged. Then I calmed down. Amidst the hubbub, I seemed to have come up with some things which I couldn't articulate at first. At this time, this incident has gone beyond a normal traffic accident. for more details, pls visit:http://www.grubbylens.com/equality-sucks-message-from-a-tragic-hangzhou-kerbside/ Imagine the scene: 20 year old Hu Bin, prince of a nouveau riche family throttles-up his blazing red, modified, sports car, zooms down a Hangzhou street. and hits a 25 year old male, Tan Zhou, on a pedestrian crossing. The victim - according to local reports - is thrown 5 metres into the air, landing 20 metres further down the road.As they wait for the police to arrive, the driver hangs-out with his friends - like him, the proud owners of expensive fast cars. They appear nonplussed: chatting and smoking cigarettes. It’s reported that he says there’s no problem with money to sort out any costs. His mother soon arrives and is on the phone for some 40 minutes - onlookers query, “to whom” ?The next day, the police give a press conference - and explain that the car was travelling at 70 Kmh in this 50 Kmh zone. The media isn’t prepared to swallow this. The car was travelling much faster. A well known racer estimates that the speed would have been at least 100 Kmh to throw the victim so far.Incidentally, a 70 Kmh estimate would mean the driver was overspeeding by less than 50 percent - and so incurs a lighter penalty than, say, 75 Kmh.Oh, and one other thing - the police also say that the traffic camera monitoring the said street is broken ! No one can know for certain, at this juncture, if the family has well placed friends who are trying to play the accident down. But many folk do smell a rat. Rich family, well connected, a culture of “shut up and I’ll pay you off” - this is China, sadly, in 2009 !And local reporters, local citizens, the blogosphere at large want more !It just so happens that the victim is a very popular young man, engaged to be married - and employed in a local IT firm.The so-called human flesh engines get to work.It isn’t long before his tech-savvy friends have full details of the driver and his family - including ID numbers - even the fact that the young prince was on the QQ messaging service for most of the evening. and It seems that Mr Bin has quite a reputation for fast driving. This story, covered on the domestic media, is not an isolated case. And the kind of anger expressed over the handling of tragic incidents like this - coupled with the common sight of privileged youth snubbing the citizenry at large - is in danger of spilling over.God forbid, but China wouldn’t be the first country to witness urban vigilantes - dispensing some sort of punishment when they feel the law is failing them.The problem, at this stage of the country’s development is that - unlike Hong Kong - the rule of law is weak.That’s because, for folk who are well connected, equality sucks !