5. Police Intervene in Hospital Fraud Case
6. Drunk Tractor Driver Kills Man
7. Meets One Lover while with Another
8. Five Hundred Yuan Lost in Scam
9. One Dead, One Injured in Stabbing
News Translations Published from January to February 2014
Chinese Stories in English
1. Salon Girl Soliciting Business Too Rude
2. Workers Chase Contractor to Demand Pay
3. Police Investigation Solves Murder Case
4. Locals Complain to Hotline
Click here to see the Chinese text for these stories
1. Salon Girl Soliciting Business Too Rude
Calls on Two Thugs to Beat Passer-By
Correspondent Xu Wenqiu, Dispatch to the Evening News
In the wee hours yesterday morning, while on his way to get a midnight snack, a Liuzhou resident encountered a girl physically pulling customers into a hair salon for a massage. When the man turned her down, he was attacked and brutally beaten, resulting in severe blood loss from a cut on his head. The police were thereupon alerted. Officers were urgently dispatched to the scene and handled the matter appropriately.
Yesterday at about 3:10 a.m., city resident Mr. Feng, 31, who lives in High Tech District, suddenly felt unbearably hungry. He headed out for a midnight snack at a noodle shop located not far from his home. On the way there, as he passed by the door of a hair salon he unexpectedly encountered a beautiful, flirtatious woman, dressed in sexy attire and blocking his way.
"Hey, Handsome, come in and have a seat!" The woman suddenly reached out and grabbed Mr. Feng's arm, dragging him toward the salon. He was so scared he got goose bumps.
"It's too late, and I don't want a haircut!"
"We don't do haircuts, only massages, very comfortable ones," the woman said, winking. Her furtive gestures suggested that they also offered special services.
But Mr. Fung is an upright man. He refused her offer categorically and accused them [sic] of being indecent. To his surprise, this brought on an unexpected scourge. The flirtatious woman resented that he didn't appreciate her offer. Shamed into excessive rage, she suddenly called out to two long-haired men. The three of them together held Mr. Feng down and beat him, resulting in the loss of a lot of blood from a lesion on his scalp.
The police received a report and rushed to the scene to put a stop [to the violence]. This salon had been abandoned by the owners long ago and they hadn't even spared the time to secure the front door. Also, an unlocked E-scooter was lying by the door. According to the public, this so-called hair salon in fact has no hair-care implements and never gives haircuts. Every day gorgeously dressed, flirtatious women sit by the door. Whenever a man passes in front of the place, these women go "Hi, Hi," to no end, which makes people feel particularly embarrassed.
The police later took Mr. Feng to the hospital to bandage and treat his wounds, and opened an in-depth investigation of the case.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-01-05, p. 03
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2. Chasing Contractor Downtown to Demand Back Pay
Police Mediate, Boss Agrees to Clear Wages of Over 70,000 Yuan
Correspondents Xu Wenqiu, Wang Fei, Dispatch to the Evening News
More than 20 construction workers gathered early yesterday morning, then followed a labor contractor strolling on a busy downtown street to demand payment of over 70,000 Yuan [≈$11,475] in withheld wages.
Early in 2012 Boss Wu, a labor contractor in our city, hired a group of workers from Sichuan, including Master Yin, to work as plasterers at a construction site on Riverside East Road. The project was completed in September that year, but Boss Wu withheld more than 70,000 Yuan of the wages and continuously refused to pay. Seeing as how the Chinese New Year is fast approaching, Master Yin and the others were getting packed up and ready to go home for the holiday. At about 2:00 yesterday morning, with some difficulty, twenty-nine workers including Master Yin were able to find Boss Wu again to demand their wages. They threatened him by saying that if he didn't pay up, [he would be publicly embarrassed because everyone] would be looking at him. Although they didn't dare beat him, they weren't going to let him run away easily.
A large crowd began following Boss Wu around, so he didn't dare go home to bed. Neither side would give an inch as they walked back and forth on a busy street near the People's Square. Some members of the public thought this was peculiar and called the police for assistance.
Officers at the May First Police Kiosk received the report and hurried to the scene to handle the matter. After their repeated efforts to enlighten the parties and their patient mediation, the two sides eventually reached a preliminary agreement. Boss Wu promised that he would raise the money to pay off more than 70,000 Yuan in wages to the penny before noon yesterday. Master Yin and the others promised not to take overly aggressive measures to interfere with Boss Wu's everyday life. Later the police sent the two sides off to check in at a nearby hotel and get some sleep. At this point, this construction wage dispute has an appropriate preliminary resolution.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-01-07, p. 05
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3. Multi-Province Investigation Solves Murder Case
Pressing Elevator Button Started Fight
One Person Dead, One Has Thumb Cut Off
Synopsis
Someone called on ten-plus people to attack city residents Mr. Li and Mr. Liao with knifes just for pushing the floor-button while riding an elevator. During the turmoil Mr. Liao's left thumb was cut off. Tragically, Mr. Li was stabbed several times and was killed. The incident occurred early in the morning of December 17 at the Imperial Paean Theater. More than a month later, in the early morning hours of the 24th, the police brought 4 suspects, including a Mr. Zeng, back from Soggy Bottom Prefecture in Hunan Province. After a chase of thousands of kilometers across provincial borders, the case was declared solved. Reporter Kong Defang.
Knife Attack Started by Pushing Elevator Button
Steadfast Hot Pursuit
Mr. Li, 45, from Form Groups Town in Willow River County, had a small business in Liuzhou. He was usually easygoing and got along well with people. Last month on the 16th, after a wedding reception for a friend from his home town, he was filled with good spirits from the celebration and invited Mr. Liao and some other friends to the Imperial Paean Theater [Karaoke Club] to get a private room and sing some songs. He did not expect that a tragedy would occur.
Just after Mr. Li paid the bill, he and a friend got into the elevator on the third floor going down. Two strange men started arguing with them about some problem with pressing the elevator floor button. The argument turned into a fight. One of the two men was speaking Mandarin, and the other Hunan dialect.
The two sides were still squabbling when the elevator got to the first floor. Mr. Liao got out of the elevator first, but when he saw what was happening, he stepped in to break up the fight. He didn't realize that one of the men was making a phone call. In a flash, ten or more men burst into the lobby, four or five of them armed with machetes. Mr. Liao's left thumb was cut off while he was trying to stop the fighting. Meanwhile, Mr. Li was hacked up and chased into a first floor concert hall. He ended up falling to the floor with several knife wounds. He was rushed to a hospital but the emergency procedures failed and he died. The assailants had fled the scene immediately.
10 Suspects Apprehended Outside Province
After the incident, the police started work right away to solve the case. By conducting interviews and checking Skynet surveillance videos, they discovered that several suspicious men had fled the scene in five or six cars after the crime. In a thorough, overnight search, they learned identifying information about some of the people involved. The following day, four of the men involved in the fight with Mr. Li, including a Mr. Chen, surrendered to the police.
Mr. Chen told police that he has a construction business in Liuzhou. He knew that the situation had gotten out of hand, so he turned himself in. Several of the assailants carrying knives were workers whom his assistant Mr. Zou had just hired from Hunan Province and who had only arrived in Liuzhou 2 days before the incident. He was uncertain about most of their names, but knew one of them was surnamed Luo and was from Soggy Bottom, Hunan.
Following this clue, the police found out where all the men from Soggy Bottom had been staying on the day of the incident. They also had Mr. Liao identify [their pictures] one by one. After final confirmation of the suspects' identities, they were all listed on the internet as fugitives.
After further investigation, the police learned that the men had fled to Hunan Province, Guangdong Province and other places after the incident.
The police took several trips to multiple cities and counties in those provinces and posted more than 50 reward posters. Some of fugitives live in remote mountain regions without bus service. After walking tens of kilometers to get there, the police patiently urged people to persuade the suspects to turn themselves in. Because of the officers' work, two more men were brought to justice.
On January 16 police in the city of Changsha, in the course of a thorough investigation, arrested a suspect, a Mr. Chen. They found out that another suspect, a Mr. Zeng, who lives in Renewed County, Hunan, had returned home and was staying there. On January 17th and 18th, the police went to Renewed County and visited the home several times to urge people to persuade him to surrender. On January 22, 3 suspects including Mr. Zeng were brought to justice in Renewed County. Thus far, 10 suspects involved in the Imperial Paean Theater murder case have been brought to justice. The police are going all out to hunt down other fugitives who are still at large.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-01-26, p. 4
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4. Hotline Voices
Angry at Being Shorted One Ounce in Two Pounds of Walnuts
Please Control Peddlers Occupying Road to Sell Vegetables
[This column is a regular feature of the Liuzhou Evening News. It's more like a suggestion box or community bulletin board than a hotline. -- Fannyi]
Hot Line Duty Officer Lan Lan
Bought Two Lbs. Walnuts, Shorted One Ounce
Ms. Mou phoned yesterday: I saw a bunch of merchants selling products for the Spring Festival on the street on South August First Road yesterday. I went in and picked out two pounds of walnuts. When I got home, I got out my scale, like I always do, to weigh them to see if the merchant shorted me. I couldn't believe it. When I weighed them the walnuts were one ounce short of two pounds. I was really mad. I hope the authorities will do more to supervise these merchants.
Peddlers Occupy Traffic Lanes to Sell Vegetables
Text message from text-correspondent "186": The peddlers taking over the traffic lane on West River Road in the mornings to engage in the business of selling vegetables, is a very serious matter. West River Road is supposed to be a two-way, four-lane street. Those disorderly peddlers used to occupy two lanes, but now take over almost three lanes. I wish the authorities would control these road-occupying peddlers.
Kindly Driver Finds and Returns Things
Mr. Li Phoned Yesterday: At about 11 in the morning on the 10th, a child of one of my relatives, on the way home from travelling, took a taxi from the Guilin Airport to Liuzhou and left a piece of luggage behind in the cab. There were some documents and a camera in the bag. On realizing it was lost, the child momentarily didn't know what to do. Later we asked around in a lot of places and were able to contact the cab company. We learned that the driver had found the luggage and had already turned it in to the company's office. We want to thank the driver, Mr. Liu, whose Guangxi license plate no. is BT5250.
Ms. Yu phoned yesterday: I caught a cab on North Station Road sometime after 9 on the morning of the 10th, and went to the West Ring Road Construction Materials Market. I left my cell phone in the cab when I got out. When I realized it was gone, I immediately used another phone to dial the number of the one I'd left in the cab. The call went through but no one answered. Later we found the cab through the monitoring center and also contacted his company. An employee of the company got in touch with the driver, who found my phone in the cab and helped me get it back. I want to express my thanks to the driver whose Guangxi license plate is BT2686.
Senior Citizen's Wheelchair Stolen
Hopes Kindly Person Will Donate Extra Wheelchair
Ms. Yu: I'm an old person whose legs aren't in good shape. A while ago I left my wheelchair in the corridor of my building and someone took it. Now I have to use a cane to go out, and it's very inconvenient. I hope some kindly person with a wheelchair at home that they're not using will be able to help me.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-01-12, p. 9
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5. Police Intervene in Fraud Investigation of Medical Institutions
Two West River Hospital Staff Detained
◎ Follow-up to "Many Medical Institutions 'Cleverly' Cheat Medical Insurance Fund"
South China Today, Liuzhou, (Reporter Wang Ji'ning )
On the third of last month, this newspaper exposed 12 medical institutions including Liuzhou's West River Hospital and its affiliate Kirin Community Health Center (hereinafter referred to as the West River Hospital and Kirin Center, respectively), together with two pharmacies, for defrauding the National Health Insurance Fund of more than 3.5 million Yuan (≈$583,500) by forging treatment receipts, package billing [performing unnecessary procedures] and overbilling. The police were highly interested in this matter and, upon receiving a relevant complaint, intervened in the investigation. Acting in accordance with the law, today the police placed two staff members at West River Hospital, Mr. Huang and Mr. Wei, in criminal detention on suspicion of the crime of contract fraud.
In May 2011 retired worker Master Yan, who lives on Brocade Embroidery Road in Liuzhou, and siblings named Gu, who work in a publicly funded institution, almost simultaneously discovered that tens of thousands of Yuan in medical insurance payments under the name of family members being cared for in a retirement home had been "otherwise moved". They filed a complaint with this city's Social Insurance Account Settlement Center (renamed the Social Insurance Management Authority late in 2012, hereinafter referred to as the Insurance Bureau).
After learning of the matter, the Insurance Bureau initiated an audit of West River Hospital and the Kirin Center and verified that 12 local hospitals and two local pharmacies had defrauded the Health Insurance Fund of huge sums. Among them, West River Hospital and its affiliate Kirin Community Health Center involved the largest amount – from August 2010 to April 2011, the two institutions had wantonly defrauded the National Insurance Fund by forging treatment receipts and other documents, and by package billing, overbilling and other methods. Of these, 150,000 Yuan was forgery, package billing and overbilling by the West River Hospital; the Kirin Center overcharged insurance fees by substituting electric acupuncture for ordinary acupuncture. Also, the Center's charges for blood transfusion devices did not match up with the treatment receipts involving 126 insured patients, confirming unnecessary charges, overcharges and the like which defrauded the Insurance Fund more than 690,000 Yuan. Together, the above two medical institutions received more than 840,000 Yuan by fraud.
The police set up a case file upon receipt of the complaint. After more than a month investigating all aspects of the matter, they began to grasp the truth that part of the staff at West River Hospital and the Kirin Center were involved in a crime. Thereupon, in accordance with the law, they initiated criminal detention procedures against two of those involved.
Currently, the police are digging even more deeply into this matter.
South China Today, 2014-01-30, p. 6
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6. Drunk Tractor Driver Kills Man
Insurance Company Recovers 120,000 Yuan Damages
Dispatch from Laibin to South China Today (Reporter Huang Bicheng, Correspondent Wei Yonghui)
Mr. Huang, a man from Glad City, killed someone while driving drunk. An insurance company was ordered by a court to pay damages of 122,000 Yuan [≈$20,000] to the victim's family. After satisfying the judgment, the insurance company in turn sued Mr. Huang seeking recovery of this compensation award. On December 26, a court in this county granted the insurance company's claim on the ground that Mr. Huang had been driving while intoxicated.
On September 20 of last year, Mr. Huang, after drinking to the point of intoxication, was driving his own multifunction tractor on a roadway. He accidently hit and killed a Mr. Luo, who was riding a bicycle. The Traffic Police determined that Mr. Huang was driving under the influence of alcohol and bore full responsibility for the accident.
In January of this year, Luo's family sued the insurance company in the County Court of Glad City. After deliberation, the court issued a decision ordering the insurance company, within the traffic accident compulsory liability insurance limits, to pay 120,000 Yuan damages to members of Mr. Luo's family, plus costs of 2,632 Yuan [≈$431.50]. On June 3rd, the insurance company compensated the victim's family in accordance with the judgment.
October 16, the insurance company sued Mr. Huang in the same County Court to recover in excess of 12.2 million Yuan paid to the victim's family. After deliberation the Court found that Mr. Huang was [guilty of] bringing about a traffic accident which caused injury to a third party while driving a motorized vehicle under the influence of alcohol; and that the insurance company had paid damages within the traffic accident compulsory liability insurance limits on behalf of Mr. Huang, the party who had caused the harm. Article 22 of the Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Compulsory Liability Insurance Regulations stipulates that insurance companies have a right of recourse against the party who caused the harm. Therefore, the court ordered Mr. Huang to compensate the insurance company in the amount of 122,000 Yuan.
It is your reporter's understanding that Article 22 of the Motor Vehicle Traffic Accident Compulsory Liability Insurance Regulations stipulates that the insurance company will advance emergency costs [to the victim] within [certain] limits. The insurance company shall be entitled to recourse against the party causing the harm under any of the following circumstances: the driver was not licensed to drive or was driving while intoxicated; the insured motor vehicle was being used during a robbery as an implement of the crime; or the insured party deliberately caused a traffic accident on a roadway.
South China Today, 2013-12-30, p. 7
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7. Meets One Lover on Shopping Trip with Another
Married Man and Two Women Fight in Street
Reporter Kong Defang, Correspondent Huang Wei, Dispatch to the Evening News
Old Wei, 55, is a married man, but he had a lover in Rongshui and another in Laibin. Yesterday, when he brought his oldest lover to Liuzhou to go shopping, they ran into his newer lover at a bus stop. The three of them looked at each other in consternation, then abruptly started to brawl in the street.
Old Wei is from Laibin and is a minor labor contractor at a construction site in Liuzhou. He has been married for many years. In 2009 he met Little Wu, a woman from Rongshui, and set up a home away from home. In 2012 he also hooked up with Little Mo, a woman from Laibin whom he met at the jobsite. Old Wei has maintained relationships with these three women simultaneously in recent years, enjoying the good life to the utmost.
The day before yesterday, Little Wu from Rongshui gave Old Wei a new pair of shoes, which made him very happy, so yesterday he brought her to Liuzhou on a bus to go shopping.
When the two got off the bus at the Lotus Intercity Bus Terminal, they happened to run into Little Mo, who had come to Liuzhou by bus from Laibin for the holiday. Little Mo came right up to Old Wei and patted him on the shoulder. When Little Wu saw them behaving so intimately, she immediately questioned them about their relationship. Old Wei saw he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of it, so he was honest with them.
"What, you've got a lover in addition to your wife?"
"Ah? You have a wife?"
For a moment the two women were flabbergasted, then they pushed each other a little. Then, realizing Old Wei was the one at fault, they both started pulling and shoving him. Finally Little Mo tore Old Wei's suit and, to get free of her, Old Wei bit her right hand between the thumb and forefinger. Little Mo immediately called the police.
Faced with the complex emotions of these three people, the officer did not know how to mediate the situation. All he could do was let the three of them calm down, and then take them to the police station to work it out.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-01-02, p. 05
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8. Five Hundred Yuan Lost in Ring-Toss Scam
Huckster's Henchmen Take the Money and Run
Reporter Kong Defang, Correspondent Wu Zhanqiang, Dispatch to the Evening News
You often see ring-toss games on the street; just spend a few Yuan to get some rings, and you can lasso a big prize. On the 18th, city resident Mr. Li also took part in one of these games and, before he knew what had happened, he'd been conned out of ¥500 (≈$83).
At 10:00 in the morning on the 18th, as Mr. Li was walking along Healthy People's Road, he saw a ring-toss stand with Wang Lao Ji [herbal tea], iced tea, ceramic piggy banks and other items [on display] in the front. You only needed to toss a ring around one to win a pack of (expensive) Red Pavilion cigarettes or ¥100 as a prize. Mr. Li saw several people win something with every ring they threw and thought it looked easy, so he paid for some rings and confidently prepared to toss them.
"I'll bet ¥500 you won't loop anything," a man wearing a gray jacket and watching from the crowd said to Mr. Li. Mr. Li thought it shouldn't be hard, since the targets weren't more than two meters away from him, so he immediately took the bet. The two men agreed that if one of them were able to loop a target, the other would have to pay him ¥500. To keep things honest, they each handed ¥500 to someone acting as a neutral party.
Just as the two men started excitedly tossing rings, the man holding the money "unexpectedly ran off with the cash." Believing he had been cheated, Mr. Li immediately pointed a finger at the man in the jacket. "I don't know him, either. My ¥500 got ripped off, too." While the man in the jacket was protesting his innocence, Mr. Li called the police.
An officer from the Victory Police Precinct rushed to the scene immediately, but the man in the jacket had already fled the scene. Since other Liuzhou residents have previously reported losing money in this kind of scam, the officer brought the operator of the stand, a Mr. Pan, in to the station.
Under questioning, Mr. Pan admitted that the man in the jacket and the man who held the money were his henchmen, but claimed that they had come up with the idea of scamming Mr. Li on the spur of the moment and that he was not involved. The police had to release him with a lecture due to lack of evidence, but confiscated his property.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-01-21, p. 4
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9. One Dead, One Injured in Stabbing by Burglar
Trial Court's Decision: Death for Robbery for Defendant Huang Hanyong
Reporter Li Lan, Correspondents Sun Tao, Liu Guotai, Dispatch to the Evening News
On the 8th, your reporter received information from the Intermediate People's Municipal Court and the People's Municipal Procurator that a trial court decision has been made in the case of defendant Huang Hanyong, who 15 years ago sought to avoid capture when he was discovered by the owner in the course of a burglary, resulting in one death at the scene (as previously reported in the Evening News). The Intermediate Municipal Court of First Instance condemned him to death, deprived him of his political rights for life, imposed an additional penalty of confiscation of all personal property, and also ordered him to pay restitution and compensation to the victim's family totaling over 30,000 Yuan (≈$5,000).
At the trial, the Intermediate Municipal Court ascertained that on January 9, 1999, at about 10 p.m., the defendant Huang Hanyong (male, b. 1972, resident of Xiangzhou County, Guangxi Province) came to the Pingshan Community in Liuzhou. After climbing up an exterior drainpipe, unarmed, he entered the kitchen of the victim, Ms. Pan, and her family for the purpose of committing theft. As he was entering the living room from the kitchen, he bumped something and made a noise, and was discovered by Ms. Pan. The two began to scuffle. To avoid capture, Huang ran back to the kitchen and picked up a knife. The two continued wrestling from the kitchen back into the living room. During the scuffle, Huang stabbed Pan in the neck with the knife, causing her death at the scene. Subsequently, after Huang discovered the victim Pan's husband, Mr. Wei, in another bedroom [sic], he rushed into the room and muzzled the man's mouth with a towel to prevent him from calling for help. He used the knife to stuff the towel into the man's mouth. Then he pulled the knife out and wrapped a blanket tightly around the man's head, which injured him and caused him to faint.
Subsequently Huang took a gold ring, a mobile phone, cash, some sausage and other property from the victim's body and from the premises, and fled the scene.
During the trial, regarding the prosecutor's accusation that his behavior constituted robbery, Huang argued that he was just a thief. The Intermediate Municipal Court nonetheless determined that the prosecutor had established its characterization of the crime. Under the provisions of the Criminal Law, one who uses violence while committing theft in order to avoid capture at the scene is to be punished in accordance with the provisions for robbery. Thus Huang's argument is a misreading of the law. While some circumstances would support the lighter punishment, his mental state regarding the death of the victim is established clearly in view of his use of a knife, after being discovered, to stab the body of the victim Ms. Pan randomly in numerous locations without regard for the consequences, including a stab in the vital part of the neck which caused her death at the scene; and by his use thereafter of the above described methods to immobilize the victim's husband, Mr. Wei, despite clearly knowing that the man was elderly and sick and couldn't walk. Since his mental state was malicious and the circumstances were particularly vicious, with extremely serious consequences, the court believed that he is a great danger to society and should be severely punished according to law. Also, the victim's economic losses caused by the behavior of the defendant Huang Hanyong have not been recovered, and the plaintiffs in the associated civil suit made clear their requested that the court apply capital punishment. For these reasons, the Intermediate Municipal Court of First Instance ultimately made the above described decision.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-02-10, p. 8
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