A sign of the times, and man for this era

It is not a favorable indicator for the people that the sentence that will be handed down for this man's actions will be death at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party:

Mr Yang is said to have thrown molotov cocktails into a police station in Zhabei, a northern suburb of the city, before entering the building and attacking a group of unarmed officers with a knife. He was arrested at the scene...

Mr Yang is rumoured to have been badly beaten and maimed by police.

I do not support the aggressive use of violence on the part of Mr. Yang, nor the murder of six police officers, but had the police initiated the violence, I would support his right to defend his life, liberty and property (despite whatever the claims of the CCP may be to the contrary) with "extreme prejudice".

Despite the official/suppressed media releases, the actions of Mr. Yang seem to be having some resonance with his countrymen:

However, instead of condemnation, he has received widespread approval from Chinese internet users, or netizens, for his apparent act of defiance...

Mr Yang has even been compared to Wu Song, one of the greatest heroes in Chinese literature, who killed a tiger with his bare hands.

One message left on his MySpace page said: "You have done what most people want to do, but do not have enough courage to do".

Regardless of the outcome and Mr. Yang's intent, the situation bears thorough examination and discussion. Furthermore, I find the fact that the CCP is trying to suppress the information surrounding Mr. Yang more than a little suspicious, and the CCP didn't exactly take home the gold-medal last week for veneration of human liberties.

It seems that the Chinese are also participants in the subtle curse of living in "interesting times".