Family members of victims of Tianjin Blasts. The blasts took place on August 12, 2015 in East China's Tianjin city, killing over a hundred.

A blast took place in Dongying, East China’s Shandong province, on August 31. A few days after the blast on September 5, local government issued a report, saying “The accident killed 13 people; some had their bodies blown into pieces due to the explosion. The victims’ family members are emotionally stable.”

As if the death toll of 13 was not heart-wrenching enough, the claim of “family members being emotional stable” provoked indignation among the netizens. Even a stranger who sees the news would mourn over the loss of lives, how can the family members be “emotionally stable”?

The report was later removed from local government website.

From the bullet train crash in East China’s Wenzhou in 2011 and Qiao family’s explosion in South China’s Yunnan province in 2012, to the many earthquakes over the years, it is so not rare to see a catastrophe report ensued with a statement of “the victims’ family members are emotionally stable” in China. It has become a catchphrase, a formulaic phraseology to report to the leadership the local government’s ability to comfort and suppress possibly riotous feelings.

The emotions are stable only because they need to be.

The phrase is no longer workable. If local government cannot even face the grief of the family members of the victims, there is no reason to believe that they will thoroughly investigate the incidents. It is more important to know the feelings and demands of those who only just lose their family members, than to vainly wish to calm down the public opinions with a formulaic “the victims’ family members are emotionally stable”.