Then it shouldn't be that weird, Ma overstepped with his speech and is carefully negotiating the minefield he's currently in. Alibaba stock rebounded ~5% since his showing. He'll slowly work his way back into public life as is customary for nature of his infraction. If CCP wanted to disappear him long term, there'd be predictable and fraud/corruption charges already laid.
It's typical Chinese politics to the point of status quo. Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. This development is what anyone with understanding of the Chinese system has repeated in past posts on the subject matter, but people dismiss in preference for rampant conspiracy theories. General commentary: if HN audience insists on flamewarring over Chinese topics, there should be some effort to learn about how Chinese system operates instead of insipid shallow commentaries or predilection for shill accusations despite many Chinese HNers engaging in good faith.
To elaborate more broadly on the subject: these incidents are relatively formulaic to the point where it's reasonably straight forward to guess outcomes based on political status of individual and nature of infraction. Prominent individuals severely contradicting official line = CCP send you on temporary contrition vacation, repeat infractions = corruption charges -> jail. If individual is public official or nature of infraction affects political structure i.e. actual massive corruption or negligence that undermines public safety -> up to death, though more life sentences or death with reprieves in recent times. Less significant individuals (like activists) get invited to drink tea at police stations, sign and various warnings before escalating to boilerplate disturbing social order sentences and successively longer sentences. Ma's more business class than political, he overstepped at a time and on a topic he was precisely not suppose to over step, so he got sent to vacation. I'm sure he got talks by relevant cadres, maybe self-criticism letter is in the works, but he was always going to be let out of the dog house. Like many systems in China, rule by law is not capricious, but customary.
Are there any first hand accounts or primary sources on what happens during these "contrition vacations"? Info along those lines would help illuminate why and how the current process is the status quo. I have not seen any first hand accounts or primary sources but I normally only read about these incidents when they get wider coverage like this one.
