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Total entries in this category: 24
Published On: Mar 07, 2006 03:02 PM
Total entries in this category: 24
Published On: Mar 07, 2006 03:02 PM
Manhunt!
In late February, a senior at Yunnan University,
the best school in the province, hammered four of his roommates to death, then
stuffed the bodies in a closet and locked the room; by the time the corpses were
discovered a few days later, the murderer had long since fled, taking with him
the contents of one victim's bank account.
This kind of attack would be newsworthy in America,
but in China, where guns are hard to find and governmental control is hard to
ignore, a murder on this scale is national news. But national news in a way. For
one thing, it has never been reported in the English language TV news, and
initial reports in the local paper politely omitted the name of the school in
which the murder occurred. However, in a matter of days, posters featuring the
suspect's picture were all over the city, along with the announcement of a
150,000 yuan reward. (That's 5 months of my upper class Chinese
salary.)
When more than a week passed without catching even the scent of the suspect, the government declared a national manhunt. Unfortunately, the suspect comes from a poverty-stricken mountain village of the adjacent province, so it is believed that he has the skills to survive in the wild for quite some time. Oh, and the guy speaks some English too.
Our friend, Nancy, teaches at Yunnan University and was alarmed that no one in an official capacity ever informed of her of the murders, particularly because they took place in the same part of the campus where she teaches. However, some days ago, the foreign affairs office announced that they would be phoning all foreign teachers between 3:00 and 6:00 each day to make sure they are okay. We laughed about various scenarios: "As a matter of fact, I'm not okay. There's this guy here, and he's got a hammer...." What it really seems like is checking to see if the foreign teachers are still alive.
We never heard anything about the murders from our college foreign affairs office either, but it was such a hot topic among our Chinese friends that of course we knew. Yesterday morning, as I was making lunch, two of our foreign affairs staff showed up at our apartment to do a "security inspection." Since they normally pay so little attention to us that we have to remind them of pay day, this was an unusual event. It was decided that our security would be enhanced by having a fire extinguisher and that from now on, I was not to let the electric or water meter readers in without an official representative present.
Later that same day, we were summoned to their office for an "emergency meeting." Now that the manhunt is nationwide and soldiers are combing the forests of Southern China, security here is being beefed up. For one thing, the guards at our gate are going to start paying attention. Students will no longer be allowed to live off campus, and someone will check each day to make sure the foreign teachers have made it to our designated classes alive. The final topic of the meeting was: "How are you feeling about this incident?"
Whoever expected China to get all soft and mushy in the midst of a national manhunt?
When more than a week passed without catching even the scent of the suspect, the government declared a national manhunt. Unfortunately, the suspect comes from a poverty-stricken mountain village of the adjacent province, so it is believed that he has the skills to survive in the wild for quite some time. Oh, and the guy speaks some English too.
Our friend, Nancy, teaches at Yunnan University and was alarmed that no one in an official capacity ever informed of her of the murders, particularly because they took place in the same part of the campus where she teaches. However, some days ago, the foreign affairs office announced that they would be phoning all foreign teachers between 3:00 and 6:00 each day to make sure they are okay. We laughed about various scenarios: "As a matter of fact, I'm not okay. There's this guy here, and he's got a hammer...." What it really seems like is checking to see if the foreign teachers are still alive.
We never heard anything about the murders from our college foreign affairs office either, but it was such a hot topic among our Chinese friends that of course we knew. Yesterday morning, as I was making lunch, two of our foreign affairs staff showed up at our apartment to do a "security inspection." Since they normally pay so little attention to us that we have to remind them of pay day, this was an unusual event. It was decided that our security would be enhanced by having a fire extinguisher and that from now on, I was not to let the electric or water meter readers in without an official representative present.
Later that same day, we were summoned to their office for an "emergency meeting." Now that the manhunt is nationwide and soldiers are combing the forests of Southern China, security here is being beefed up. For one thing, the guards at our gate are going to start paying attention. Students will no longer be allowed to live off campus, and someone will check each day to make sure the foreign teachers have made it to our designated classes alive. The final topic of the meeting was: "How are you feeling about this incident?"
Whoever expected China to get all soft and mushy in the midst of a national manhunt?
Posted: Thu - March 4, 2004 at 12:04 AM