The Relativity Series: Golden Shield (Part 2)
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You really don't mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name wasn't Ernest? But your name is Ernest. Yes, I know it is. You can stream the entire L.A. TheatreWorks catalog of plays. Find out more at streaming.latw.org.

Beijing, 2012. Can we get some bottled water with a seal? I don't know where you've gotten this from. I'll have the shrimp fried rice. Don't put any MSG in it. And I know you'll say you don't use MSG, but then I leave with a migraine, so can you actually not put MSG in it? Thanks.

Monosodium glutamate, food enhancer, rumored to cause dehydration and headaches. You shouldn't... Studies do not support this. What? Forget it. Now what? You can't be so blunt with people here. I'm American. We have a global reputation to uphold. Well, you look Chinese. People assume you're Chinese. I should fucking hope not. Pass me the hot sauce. Hey.

You remember the food matching? You know, the matching thing with food? You remember this? No. Whenever we, like, whenever she served us a plate of something to be shared between the two of us, she'd insist on absolute equality. So we had to count the grapes or the peas to make sure we got exactly our share. And she never put odd numbers on the plate. Uh, that didn't happen. No, she did this till I was, like, six. Well, I was there. I was older. That didn't happen.

There was a time where you did that. You counted what you ate, but that's because you... No, this was earlier. Like, way earlier. Then you're conflating things. No, I... Also, can we not... Let's not suddenly treat her with nostalgia. Now she's... Jewels. Fuck. As though literal decomposition somehow reduces her level of fucking toxicity. That's not what I... I'm late. No, it's... You're all good. I...

Uh, Eva. Amanda Carlson, International Project Manager of the Digital Freedom Fund. Amanda, Eva Chen, our translator. What, you guys sisters? We, uh, we are, actually. Oh, for real? You hired your sister? Yep. Great grandfoy. Well, that's convenient. Your sister's a translator. Nice. Well, nice to meet you, Eva. Yeah, ditto. So, any word? It's not good. We're down a couple. How many?

Of the 15 I spoke to, five of them are willing to sign on as does, three willing to be named plaintiffs. Damn it. Seriously? A lot of these people are still under close surveillance, Julie. It's a big ask. Fuck. Well, okay. Fuck.

Any of the three willing to travel? One. The professor? Yeah, and I've got to say, I think from what little he's told me, I think his testimony would be pretty compelling. He's willing. I mean, he'll testify. We'll have to negotiate that tomorrow. There's some kind of... He's on board in principle, but there's some kind of reservation. Safety? He wouldn't say over the phone. I think it's best we discuss it in person. Okay. What about the document? Can we authenticate it?

Well... Amanda, seriously? I mean, it's WikiLeaks. They have a near-perfect record of document authentication. We can't get up in front of a Dallas jury and say WikiLeaks has a...

Most of these people won't know the difference between WikiLeaks and Wikipedia. Wait, so you need to, like, authenticate the document? Eva, I keep telling you, you don't have to under... Jules, surely it's beyond reasonable doubt that the head of China upsore it. Why don't you let me be the judge on what reasonable doubt entails here? WikiLeaks is not beyond reasonable doubt. Wait, this thing was presented at a board meeting. Evie, shut up.

Eva. Wow. Huh.

You go to law school? That's, uh... No. Shit. I majored in Asia Studies. That's good. Uh, what kind of jobs do you get with that? This, I guess. Evie. Yeah? That's fucking good. I love you. Okay. Dallas, 2015. Now!

Everyone in this room agrees that there are human rights abuses going on in China. That's a well-documented fact. There's actually a great deal of debate about the extent... But the defense is going to argue that a single bullet point is insufficient evidence of Onus' criminal collusion. After all, this is the only copy we have access to. How can we prove that Mr. McLaren and his colleagues actually saw this document? Well...

because we have access to the public minutes of this board meeting. You can see clearly here that Marshall McLaren, the head of China operations, is listed as being in attendance. What does this all mean? It means Mr. McLaren not only saw this document, but he saw it before their contract was renewed, which means he not only helped to build the Golden Shield,

But he did it in the full knowledge that this was one of the ministry's central goals. That they specifically and explicitly intended on targeting Zhuangzi activists. Beijing, 2012. It's sort of ingenious. Well, you spend enough time with lawyers. Dude, you just made our case. Take the compliment. Okay, thanks.

So this was a surprising WeChat request. Well, like, I don't know, it's our only night in Beijing. There's all these bars around. You seemed cool, so I figured you'd be the sort of person I'd want to get trashed and go dancing with. Can I just clarify something here? What?

Like, is this a drink? Or like a... drink? Oh, no. Yes, I am definitely trying to fuck you. Okay, good. I thought so. Yeah, there should be no ambiguity about that. So, okay. I wish people could just... Right? Because it's like, there's enough miscommunication in the world. I don't want to spend all night reading between the lines and like...

searching for a sign or symbol like a sexual visual metaphor because if you just like say up front what you mean then like you don't need to translate you know I guess I should go so I take it Julie's not coming no she's uh she'd be sort of pissed if she knew I was doing this does she not oh no no that's not no she thinks I fuck her colleagues to piss her off do you kind of

So, her partner, not like her partner in life, her partner-in-law, Richard... Oh, yeah, Richard. I know Rich. Oh, you and Rich. That's, uh, that's quite a... I mean, not to cast aspersions, he's a lovely guy, but, um, you could do better. How much better? A lot better. Okay. Okay.

I really want to ask you like a million questions about your amazing life and your super cool job, but first I have to make out with you, otherwise I will not be able to concentrate on what you're saying. That's heartening, but you actually shouldn't. Why? Because you're in a public place and homosexuality was illegal in China until 1997. So making out with you would be like a seditious act?

Not anymore. But potentially uncomfortable for the people around you. But we can finish these drinks and make out in the bathroom. We can, in fact, do that. Outstanding. Tell me about your exciting and fabulous job. My job? Ah, my job. It's a lot of advocacy, a lot of ranting, raving, tweeting. Not a lot of downtime. Yeah, I get that vibe. I work myself to death. It's pretty unsustainable.

Blah, enough me. Is this like your full-time gig, being your sister's translator?

Well, I'm... I just graduated, so I'm between... Should I come back? Actually, uh, I'm... I'm a sex worker. I work in the sex industry. Oh. Oh. Guess not. Yeah, I mean... informally, I'm not, uh... If you don't mind, uh, what exactly do you... I date people. Oh. Uh, specifically, I date these guys. These older guys. Rich white guys. And, uh, they pay for my rent and my clothes and my food and, uh, my everything. Okay.

Oh, so you're like a... Yeah. Do you... Do you fuck them? Um, I didn't really intend to when I started out, but then one of them offered me a lot of money, so now, yeah, I do. All of them? One of them I just give blowjobs to because he's, like, in his 70s. Oh. Yep. That's, uh, what I do for money.

Well, hey, no judgment. Oh, feel free to judge me. I'm a terrible person. I don't really know you at all, but you don't seem like a terrible person. I'm sort of like a generally decent person masking like a depraved sociopath. I feel like this is your way of telling me I shouldn't date you. Yeah, it's a tactic. Well, I guess it's a good thing you live in D.C. Yeah. And I live in Melbourne. Yeah. And this is our only night in Beijing. I guess so. Well...

I feel a sudden and overwhelming urge to powder my nose. Mimi in the bathroom. Dallas, 2015. Mr. McLaren, I get the sense you're not a fan of ambiguities. So the next question I'm going to ask you is going to be a wholly unambiguous question. A question you can answer with a simple yes or no. Do you think you can do that for me? I think I can manage that. Did you see this document at the Onus board meeting on July 31st, 2006?

I don't remember. You don't remember? No. I'll remind you you're under oath. Yeah, I'm aware of that. You can remember the dollar value per share of your stocks in 2005, but you can't remember seeing this document? I mean, come on, we're talking about a bullet point. Can you remember any bullet points you read a decade ago? But you received this document directly from the CCP. Not that I recall, not specifically.

Look, the fact is... Mr. McLaren, do you seriously... The fact is that this document is... It was one of hundreds, probably thousands of documents that came across my desk while we were negotiating the contract renewal. I mean, to be honest with you, it was probably thrown in the packet by an intern. God knows if I ever read it. Wouldn't you say that displays corporate negligence on your part? I guess that's for the jury to decide. Actually, it's for you to answer.

From where I stand, Ms. Chen, I made the internet faster for 1.4 billion people. If that's corporate negligence, then I guess I'm negligent. No further questions. Train from Beijing to Yincheng, 2012. What'd you get up to last night? Nothing. Got trashed. The usual, then. Yeah. Oh, I like trains. Me too. Calming. Hmm.

You know, I thought about it. For college, moving here. With you and Mom. No, you didn't. I did. You know, I thought it might be good to get culturally re-acclimated. So I could have, like, an actual connection to this place. Thing is, though, you look at what's going on in this country, it doesn't exactly inspire stirrings of national pride. Right. That was good work, by the way, with the thing. Yeah.

Thanks. You ever thought about it? Law school? Don't have the grades. Yeah, but I don't know. There's courses or something. Just because... Forget it. No, what? You don't have to give me brownie points for doing a smart thing, Jules. I'm smart. I just don't feel the need to, like, broadcast it all the time. It hasn't been all fun and games, you know. Being the comparatively stupid sibling. Eva, you're not... Do you honestly think that? You're a lawyer. I'm a...

Whatever. Yeah, but like, emotional intelligence? You got me beat. Got the emotional intelligence of a brick. I mean, whatever. That's just transactional logic. You work out what someone wants from you and what you want from them, then you make the transaction. Nice, dude. Go to law school. Make that logic billable by the hour. Yeah, maybe. I'll look into it. You should. Transactional logic.

You're pretty messed up, kid, you know that? Pot meet kettle. Ha, yeah, no shit. I mean, like, all things considered, our childhood, pretty well adjusted. Speak for yourself, man, I'm pretty... Damaged. Yeah, well, I'm... Also damaged. But, you know, we're, you know, yeah. Not sure on this one. I think it's expressing a kind of solidarity. Or yearning?

So if this guy's testimony, if it's compelling, it could make your case, right? Pretty much. So what do you need him to say? That he's suffering. I admit, I wasn't being totally candid at the outset. I do have a degree of professional ego, you see. The most difficult part is actually getting it wrong. The moments where you actually hinder communication.

shut down a dialogue, it invalidates your work. Because in those moments, you prove that the very attempt of taking a thought from one place, one culture, one set of given circumstances, and reimagining that thought for another set of circumstances, well, you prove that in reality, they're only false equivalences. You can approximate, but that's all it ever is. That's my job, in fact.

This is a red line camera, a light source and a light sensor.

It has an infrared camera, a spectrograph, and a photometer. 老李 李 照相机是最重要的部分 This camera is the most important part. 老李 吃点东西 吃点东西 In 10 years, 我们会拍摄到宇宙里以前从来没有看过的部分 We'll have photographed parts of the universe we've never seen before. 现在改行,还不晚 It's not too late for a career change. 来

You think I'm smart enough for astrophysics? In my opinion, you'd make a terrible astronaut. Not an astronaut. Exoplanetary! Did you forget you have a sleeping child? Better wake in here. It's not harmful to instill a child with an early love of astronomy. Did you get the mail? What did they do? We drank tea.

What did they ask you? The questions aren't important. It's just a ritual. They ask a question, I say no. They ask a question, I say no. They give me the mail. I don't understand. They're not taking Dr. Zhang's mail, are they? I explained this to you already. So you're the only networks expert in China? Your phone. What? Just in case. This is stupid.

Mei, the government has access to all kinds of information. Talk to me like I'm a child. Everyone knows that. This is 2006. No one bucks phones anymore. I'm trying to explain something to you. Since the announcement about the Olympics, the government is cracking down. They're afraid of people climbing the wall. What wall?

The firewall. The government is investing billions of yuan in improving our firewalling system. What is this? I teach people to build filtering systems. That's my area of expertise. If you know how to build them, you know how to break through them. That's why our mail is being held. Li, if you were involved in anything, I am not. I know. But if you were, you would tell me.

Of course. Even if you would put me or Xiao in danger, then you wouldn't want to know. It's not up to you. We're family. Of course. Remember, if you break a promise to me, I know I destroy myself. In the first year of their marriage, Li drunkenly kissed a colleague at a staff party. When he broke the news to Mei, she did not cry.

Instead, she sat him down and calmly articulated her feelings about breaking a promise to the person you love. Mei explained that when you choose to love a person, you're also making a moral choice about the kind of person you want to be. In loving someone, you destroy your former self and create a new self in the image of the person you love. As such, every time you break a promise to a person you love, you destroy yourself.

at least the present version of yourself, the self you have created in the image of your lover. Mei said she grew up in a village prone to earthquakes, so she had a high threshold for destruction. Then she kissed him on his eyelids. I'm not involved in anything. Once the Olympics are over, things will go back to the way they were. The Olympics are in two years. Is it going to be like this for two years?

Can I turn my phone on now? I'm losing my game. We can't have that. Why are you staring? Like watching you play with yourself. Pervert. Give me a kiss. We phrase that. Kiss me? Almost there. Kiss me, please. Kiss me, please.

You have a beautiful home. He says she's redecorated. What? She said they had to refit the house for his wheelchair. She's making tea.

Shall we... Amanda, can you take the lead on this? Sure, sure. So Professor Li, as we discussed, our case will be a lot stronger the more members of Zhuangzi we can get involved. We're hopefully looking at a class action of around at least 10, 15 litigants.

And we're looking at really substantial compensation if we win. You said you've been having financial troubles after your release? My condition. This has all been very expensive. And I can't get a lecturing job anywhere. May is our only income now. I'm really sorry to hear that.

I want you to know that we're going to do everything we can to make sure you're compensated. That's okay. So, Julie? Professor Li.

The thing we need to ask you about today is about testifying in our court. As you might know, the court system in America is a jury system, which means it'll really strengthen our case to have one of the plaintiffs actually testify so they can hear firsthand what you've been through.

We understand that traveling to America under false pretenses is a pretty big risk for you. But because of your connections in academia, we think it might be easier for you than some of the others. He says he's willing to go. Oh, well, that's great. But you can't ask me here.

What was that? He's saying you can't do the interview like here in the house. We can get an office space in Beijing. We're on a tight schedule. I'm sorry, Beijing is just too risky. I've had meetings monitored there before. He says he's willing to testify. But we have to prep him somewhere else.

Can you ask if he's concerned about their safety? Because it'll be much safer in his house, in a rural, under-controlled condition, than in a public setting. Particularly if we can get it done in a single day. What's the problem? I...

I don't know. He's just saying it can't be here. It can't be here. She sounds like her. Oh, thank you. Thank you. She's here. Oh, not really. I don't really speak. I understand some Chinese, but I don't know. I don't really speak. Can you ask him how much does his wife know about his incarceration?

关于你坐牢的事,您太太知道多少? 我们从来不谈这事。 Was that... Did he say they've never... They've... Yes, they've never spoken about it. How... Forgive me, Professor Li. How is that possible? You were in detention for... You were gone for five years. 您五年没在家。 Where does she think he was for five years? 他以为你在哪里? 我们...

从来没谈过。 They've just, they've never talked about it. 我回来就像这个样子。 He says he came back in a wheelchair, so I guess they never... Wait, wait, does she even know? Does she know he was helping people break through the firewall that he was denounced? Does she know about Zhuangzi? 他知道 Zhuangzi 这事吗? What? Jesus. 关键问题就在这里。

So that's why. Yeah, no, I get it. Jesus, fuck. Fuck. Okay, translate this.

I understand. This is a complicated situation. I don't think... Translate the fucking sentence. Can I say it like in a gentler... No, Evie, because I'm not his shrink. I'm his representation. I get that, but if she... She already knows, man. They have some kind of, I don't know, maybe Chinese honor-bound vow of silence around it, but she has a TV in the house. There's no way she doesn't know. Okay.

Imagine your husband starts talking about his terrorist activity in your house. Eva, I am paying you. You are being paid to be my translator. You don't get input on issues I'm having with my client. Now, before he works out how much of a fucking child you're being, would you kindly translate? For Eva and Julie, the phrase...

Fucking child is particularly loaded. You see, at their mother's funeral two months earlier, Eva, as the child better versed in Chinese culture, was slated to perform the ritual burning. It's a custom in Mahayana funerals for a relative of the deceased to burn a stack of paper money and a miniature house. In this way, it's said, the dead will receive material comforts in heaven as on earth.

Thank you. Thank you.

Eva suddenly heard her mother's voice, as though she was there beside her, screeching, "'That's perfectly good money you're burning!' And there, in the center of the congregation, Eva was seized by an uncontrollable fit of laughter, one which rippled up from a potentially mistakable snort to an all-out cackle, much to the horror of the assembled congregation. Finally, Julie stormed up, muttered, "'You're a fucking child!'

I'll go out of the room. I'm fine, go ahead. You've already endured so much. Although you've endured so much, but don't underestimate your wife's endurance.

She's mistranslating. If I was not fully confident that this case will improve the lives of activists around the world by taking a stand against Chinese tyranny,

She's mistranslating. And exposing this regime for what it is. She said, don't underestimate your wife's commitment to you. She must know why you were arrested, which means she will stand by you no matter the cost. She is clearly a very strong person. Is that a yes? Is that a yes?

You can ask me questions here. He says it's fine. You can ask your questions here. Mr. McLaren and his colleagues knew about the existence of Zhuangzi. They knew that the Chinese government explicitly intended to target Zhuangzi activists. Activists like the next person you'll be hearing from. My client, Professor Li Dao.

Between 2002 and 2006, Professor Li posted a number of articles on Zhuangzi. These articles detailed various ways you could break through the firewall to the World Wide Web. But he was very careful to conceal his identity and his activities on this platform. He was, after all, an expert in this field. But in 2006, Professor Li was arrested. How was he discovered?

You already know the answer to that question. That was the year the Ministry of Public Security implemented Mr. McLaren's decentralized networked apology, allowing them to internally monitor online traffic and target citizens like my client. In other words, Mr. McLaren and his colleagues knowingly put my client's life in jeopardy. Why did they do this?

out of pure and simple greed. Because they valued their bottom line more than they valued the rights and lives of Chinese citizens. When I say call me back, you have to call me back. I'm busy, someone's suing us? Yes, I've been trying to. Who's suing us? Eight Chinese dissidents. What? Eight. I heard you fucking what?

Eight Chinese dissidents are suing us for criminal collusion with the Chinese government. The... How? What? In China? In Texas. How? It has to do with pirates.

It's something of a legal loophole. We pay you to foresee loopholes. Did you just say pirates? Yes. Well, there's stranger precedent in the history of American legislation. For instance, it's technically still illegal for a donkey to sleep in a bathtub. What the fuck does that have to... Absolutely nothing. I'm just a font of legal trivia. What have they got on this? This floated off on WikiLeaks. But...

But we shredded these. We shredded these. Didn't we shred these? I'm certainly surprised by their reappearance. We did. We fucking shredded them. Did you leave a copy lying around? No. Did someone on the board leave a copy lying around? Bowman, I saw it with my own eyes. After the meeting, we gathered them and we fucking shredded them. Are we going to trial? Hopefully it won't come to that. Yeah? What's fucking hopeful about it?

We're going to propose a settlement. A generous settlement. And pray the matter doesn't make it any further. So we're going to pay them to shut up? Yes. Well, we lawyers prefer the term "settle."

Washington, D.C., 2012. So, Brastex, as you know, I represent an organization with the net worth of a Scandinavian nation's GDP. And as such, we have absolutely no interest in engaging with this trivial, though admittedly imaginative, bit of litigation.

By the by, my compliments vary widely. You didn't tell me she was this patronizing. She's British. Still. I'm happy to report that our organization is willing to offer your merry band of Chinese terrorists an exceedingly generous settlement in exchange for, well, blah, blah, keep it out of the press, you get the gist. How generous?

We're not settling. I'm not settling. Jules? We're not settling. Would you give us a second? We don't need a second. Jane, I appreciate you coming all this way. There's the door. I think you'd be wise to listen to your colleague, Miss Chen. And I think you're scared. CLO for a multinational. Former top-shelf barrister, and you've never seen anything like it.

You don't know how to try this. You don't know how to begin trying this. Miss Chen, respectfully, you've never seen anything like this. You're in talks. That's right, we are. And we're going to try this like we would any other civil suit. Duty, breach, harm, causation, damages. We'll bury you in paperwork. Bring it. We're going to try this thing, Bowman, and we're going to win. We're going to drag your organization's name through the mud.

We're gonna expose your collusion. We're gonna royally piss off the Chinese government. And more importantly, we're gonna win. And when we do, we're coming to you for twice this figure.

As a self-professed expert in torts, you might want to look up the definition of a class action. It typically involves multiple plaintiffs, plaintiffs with names, not does one through eight. Oh, we'll have named plaintiffs. Don't you worry about that. Plaintiffs and testimony. You're not telling me you're going to get a dissident out of China to testify in a civil court in Dallas, are you? You're getting someone out of China? No.

We'll be in touch. This is a crusade. It's senseless, and it's at the expense of your clients. Prevail upon your colleague to see some sense. He doesn't control me. It's true. I'm the looks of the operation. Hey, Bowman, how do you sleep at night? I'm sorry? I said, how do you sleep at night? I have one of those tempopedic mattresses. What? What?

What's that face? That's my you-just-turned-down-ten-million-dollars face. We'll get 20. And it's not about the money. You do know that money is one of the key components of a lawsuit. A plaintiff is wrong. They are therefore awarded financial damages. And sometimes from those damages, we, the lawyers, actually get paid our legal fees. Landmark case, Rich. We're trying international human rights law as torts. It's not about the money. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's about doing the right fucking thing. God damn it.

You sure Professor Lee feels that way? What's that supposed to mean? I mean that your client is a guy in a wheelchair who can't get a lecturing job with a stack of medical bills and a teenage daughter. He's not in it for the money, Rich. He was... He's an activist. He's fighting for the rights of his people. Is that something he actually said or something you've inferred?