Chinese Stories in English
5. Homeowner Fears Poisoning
6. Woman Attacked, Brings Perp to Justice
7. Thoughts Occasioned by Female Robbers
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1. Cadres Can't Be "Migratory Birds"
New Liuzhou Program Will Reform "Commuting" Cadres
Reporter Li Hua, Dispatch to the Evening News
Luzhai County [part of Liuzhou Prefecture] changed its cadres from "commuters" to "boarders". Residences were established [near where the cadres work, so they can now] go into the village households to perform services for the masses and solve problems for them. The local people are singing the praises of such dedication by cadres. Next, with the opportunity provided by the Party's Mass Line Educational Practices Campaign, Liuzhou Prefecture will introduce a program of specific measures to remedy the widespread phenomenon of "commuting" by municipal and village cadres, to bring the cadres into a closer relationship with the masses. Your reporter learned this at yesterday morning's Fourth (Expanded) Meeting of the Party's Mass Line Educational Practices Leadership Team.
Work in the countryside, live in the city The masses jokingly call such cadres "day students" or "migratory birds". Our understanding is that, in some places, it is common for cadres to commute. Many basic level cadres have purchased houses in the city, and they run back and forth between the city and rural areas 365 days a year. At the end of the work day, government facilities in municipalities and villages become "empty residences". If an emergency arises, the masses simply cannot find anyone [to help]. The Prefecture's Commission for Discipline and Inspection, after earnest research directed at this phenomenon, will in the near future introduce appropriate measures to gain the confidence of the people by using a "big stick" to standardize the work attitudes of the broad mass of party member cadres, beginning with their everyday behaviors, and to eliminate "commuting" by cadres.
Liuzhou Prefecture's Party Secretary, Zheng Junkang, said that some cadres nowadays don't get into their work. They have a position at the county level, or in a municipality or village, but because they live in a city district or town, they're anxious to run back to the urban area after work. How can they deal with emergencies that may arise? Since they hold positions where they are responsible for the welfare of the people, they must take care of their own bailiwick and stand firm and steady. The time they spend commuting would be better spent in studying and in resolving people's problems. Luzhai County did well to change its cadres from "commuters" to "boarders". It truly embodies a government working diligently for the people.
The next step in the Educational Practices Campaign will focus on resolving aspects of the "four winds", "five transformations", "six diseases" and "five types of phenomenon", which are outstanding problems that the masses indicate have arisen from specific issues in their personal and working lives, with emphasis on resolving the phenomenon of "commuting" by leading cadres in counties, townships and villages, to make county, township and village cadres set their minds on their work and do a good job in positions of responsibility for the people's welfare, and also to do more things for the masses, to do good things and practical things. Further, a pilot program of rotational instruction in county-administered [schools] will be actively explored, arranging, through the overall county plan, for instructors to take turns teaching in the villages, in order to resolve the problem of towns, villages and farming communities in rural counties being unable to retain teachers, which will promote balanced urban and rural education.
As of April 14, the Party's Mass Line Educational Practices Campaign has been completely initiated in the institutions of the city, counties (districts) and streets (rural townships), and in their subordinate units and enterprises, 96% initiated in 1,214 villages (communities), and 65% initiated in 379 non-public economic and social organizations and other grassroots Party organizations.
City leaders Du Wei, Qin Chao, Liu Youyi, Su Aiqun, Cui Fangming, Xu Weichong, Zeng Shizian and Qin Zefen, among others, attended the meeting.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-04-16, p. 4
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2. Child Trafficking? False Alarm!
Police Hurry to Investigate, Find Teacher Mistaken
Reporter Sun Tietong, Correspondent Shi Liuru, Dispatch to the Evening News
"My child may have been abducted." In a call to the police yesterday at 9:10 a.m., city resident Ms. Qin said that after she had taken her son to a school located on Liu-Yong Road, the home room teacher reported that the child was not at school, and further, that she had received a text message from a man asking to excuse the boy from class.
Immediately upon receipt of the call, an officer from the Silver Mountain Precinct contacted the person who had called the police. This homeroom teacher [sic] said that Ms. Qin's son had not arrived at school, and moreover, that she had received a phone call from a man. The man on the phone first asked detailed questions about Miss Qin's child, and subsequently sent a text message to the effect that the boy had come down with chickenpox and would not be able to come to school.
Thereafter the teacher had phoned Ms. Qin to tell her what had happened. Ms. Qin said, however, that her husband was not in Liuzhou and it was not possible for any other man to ask that her child be excused from school. During this discussion they both became anxious and suspected that the child may have been abducted.
The officer arrived at the school a few minutes later and again questioned the person who had made the report. She now claimed that it was a false alarm, that the homeroom teacher made a mistake, and that Ms. Qin's child was still at school.
And the man had called to get his own child excused. The teacher was anxious at the time and misidentified the person, resulting in the confusion.
[The reporter says Ms. Qin called the police, but then talks as though the homeroom teacher were the person who called. – Fannyi]
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-03-18, p. 8
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3. ¥200 "Meat Dog" Actually Neighbor's Pet
Clever Police Mediation Makes Neighbors Happy
Reporter Kong Defang, Correspondent Chen Weiming, Dispatch to the Evening News
Some time ago, a Ms. Ma from the Town of Stone Tablet Flats spent two hundred Yuan (≈$33) in a free market to buy a "meat dog". She planned to slaughter and make a meal of it for her husband's birthday. On the 24th, a neighbor recognized the dog as his own pet dog, "Alaska", which he had lost three months ago. The dog was ultimately returned to its owner's embrace after police mediation.
On January 25 Ms. Ma, who is from the Town of Stone Tablet Flats, spent 200 Yuan to buy a three-month-old puppy from someone on the street at the New Street Intersection in Sand Dyke Town. She intended to kill it and serve it as a meal on the 27th, her husband's birthday. After she got it home, the family noticed that it seemed to be a pet dog, and they said that a pet dog's meat would not be good eating. Ms. Ma tied the dog up in a store she operates, to use it as a watchdog.
Shortly after 9:00 in the morning on March 24, someone told Mr. Tang, who runs a fertilizer store across the way from Ms. Ma's store, that the dog in her shop looked a lot like Alaska, the dog he had lost on January 25. Mr. Tang went to Ms. Ma's shop and looked, and the guard dog did indeed turn out to be his lost dog Alaska. It has a subtle black mark on its left front forepaw. Mr. Tang had purchased the dog for 1,800 Yuan, and he immediately asked Miss Ma to return his pet to him. Ms. Ma agreed on the condition that Mr. Tang would compensate her for the 200 Yuan she had spent to buy the dog.
Mr. Tang was only willing to pay 100 Yuan. The two sides quarreled several hours and neither would give an inch, so they eventually went to the Stone Tablet Flats police station for help. The community police officers investigated and concluded is that the dog is in fact the one that Mr. Tang lost. Both sides were still refusing to compromise when an officer saw Ms. Ma's husband come into the station to get a residence permit. Thinking quickly, the officer pulled him to the side and quietly suggested that he advance the 100 Yuan to Mr. Tang. Mr. Tang dug the other 100 Yuan out of his own pocket and paid the 200 Yuan to Ms. Ma. She thanked the police for resolving the problem and Mr. Tang happily lead his dog back home. Both sides were quite happy.
[Fannyi's comment -- Ms. Ma's husband presumably decided against bribing the reporter not to run this story in the hope that his wife wouldn't see it.]
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-03-26, p. 8
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4. Mother Wants Divorce from Abusive Daughter
They Reconcile through Police Mediation
Reporter Li Jie, Correspondent Wang Weiya, Dispatch to the Evening News
"My daughter is too much! She curses me in the most awful language! I really can't take it! I want to make it so she's not my daughter anymore!" At about 10 o'clock yesterday morning, 67-year-old Madam Qin walked into the East Liuzhou Precinct duty room, crying, and requested police assistance.
Madam Qin has been a widow for 27 years. She suffered greatly while raising four children alone, but now her children are grown and she is retired. Her second daughter, Ah-Ying, has a temper and is always swearing at someone. She often takes out her anger over some bump in her life on Madam Qin. That morning, as Madam Qin was on her way out to visit friends, she happened to run into Ah-Ying, who immediately started cursing, "Why don't you just die? Why not die right now? You think I'm going to spend my whole life taking care of you? No way!"
Madam Qin was crying as she told the police officer, "I have a pension and a place to live. I don't spend a penny of hers. Even when I go see a doctor, she doesn't have to take care of it. So what basis does she have for talking to me so cruelly? You need to take care of this for me. I want to sever the mother-daughter relationship between us, so even after I'm gone, not a penny of my assets will be left to her!" The officer consoled Madam Qin while he phoned Ah-Ying to question her.
"She gave her bank cards and passbook to my little sister to keep. She's absolutely playing favorites!" It turned out that Ah-Ying had long resented Madam Qin's giving money to her youngest daughter to take care of. Also, she was in a bad mood, so she'd freaked out and said those things.
The officer sharply criticized her and educated her about her behavior, and Ah-Ying admitted her mistakes. She cried as she apologized to Madam Qin over the phone. Madam Qin's tears turned to smiles as she thanked the officer profusely. "A few words from a police officer can really do the trick! Thank all of you, officers."
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-03-24, p. 8
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5. Homeowner "Poisoned" by Material of Unknown Origin
MDs Find No Poisoning, Police Testing Sample
Reporter Li Lan, Correspondent Wang Zhenyong, Dispatch to the Evening News
On the evening of the 20th, Ms. Qiu's daughter brought inside a bag of white granules that had been hanging on the lock of their home's door. After Ms. Qiu touched it, she felt numbness in her hands, dizziness and difficulty breathing. When it occurred to her that this stuff was of unknown origin, she thought of threats she had recently received because of a dispute with someone over money. She suspected that this was a ploy to poison her and called the police at once.
At about 7 o'clock that evening, the duty officer at the Laurel Center Police Precinct received an order from the 110 [Emergency] Command Center saying that someone in a certain community on East Ring Road had been poisoned. Police and 120 Rescue personnel rushed to Ms. Qiu's home and saw her lying on a sofa.
Ms. Qiu and her daughter told the police that when the daughter came home from school that evening, she discovered a red plastic bag hanging on the door lock handle. She opened it to look. Inside was a transparent ziploc plastic bag containing a package of white granular material. The daughter took it off [the door handle] and brought it in to Ms. Qiu. "Who hung a bag of stuff on our door?" Ms. Qiu was mystified. She called the neighbors to ask if they had put it there, and they said they hadn't.
"What is this stuff, and where did it come from?" Ms. Qiu opened the bag to examine it and touched the white granules. She instantly felt uncomfortable and suspected that she had been poisoned.
Her daughter told the police that she had also touched it but only felt numbness in the hand.
Emergency personnel examined the mother and daughter at the scene and found their vital signs were normal. Police inspected the "poison" and found that the package weighed two or three pounds. The material resembled a composite fertilizer.
As a precaution, they had Ms. Qiu and her daughter go to a hospital for further examination. The police brought the white granules back to the precinct and have sent them out for testing together with samples of Ms. Qiu's and her daughter's blood obtained from the hospital.
When Ms. Qiu and her daughter were examined in the hospital that night, no signs of poisoning were found.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-03-22, p. 3
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6. Late Night Robbery Victim Brings Perp to Justice
Potty Call is Excuse to Lock Up Criminal
Reporter Li Lan, Correspondent Wu Honggang, Dispatch to the Evening News
In the early morning hours of the 9th, a young woman was returning home late after a party with friends when she encountered a man who robbed her at knifepoint, then detained her in a room and proceeded to violate her. The woman responded calmly in the face of danger. Using a need to go to the bathroom as an excuse, she locked the man in the room and called the police for help, bringing him to justice in the end.
At about 5:00 a.m. that day, the duty officer at the White Sands Police Station of the North Liuzhou Patrol Brigade received instructions from the 110 [Emergency] Command Center which said: a man was shut in a certain rented room on Elegant Scholar Road on suspicion of robbery and rape.
After receiving the call, the police took only three minutes to arrive on the scene where they found the young female victim, Sunlight (not her real name).
The police learned directly from Sunlight that she is from out of town and is staying here temporarily. She came home alone at about 4 a.m. that night after a party with friends. As she was walking up to the second floor, a man was coming down the stairs. She believed he was an upstairs tenant and, without a second thought, stepped aside to let him pass. Unexpectedly, when she went to her door on the second floor, the man turned and grabbed her around the neck from behind. He held a knife to her back and threatened: "You got money? Out with it, quick." When Sunlight said she had no money, the man forced her to open her door. Once inside the room, he proceeded to attack her.
Later, Sunrise escaped the room on the pretext of going to the toilet. She had the presence of mind to use her key to lock the door, and then called her father and the police.
After the officers understood the situation, they took the key from Sunrise and, watching the door and windows closely, carefully opened the door. As soon as it was open, the officers stormed into the room and arrested the suspect male, who was asleep on the bed.
Investigation revealed the man is Tan X Hua, 35, a resident of this city. He was a drug abuser but had quit using two years ago after the police put him in rehab.
Currently, the suspect Tan X Hua is being held in criminal detention by the police while the case is under further investigation.
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-03-12, p. 7
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7. Thoughts Occasioned by Female Robbers
Touching on the hot social issue of the increase in crimes committed by females, the article "Two Women in Court to Stand Trial for Fly-By* Robbery", published in the Liuzhou Evening News on [April] 15th, page 5, is a real shocker: Previously, when you saw newspaper reports about fly-by robbers, they were mostly male, but this time it was two young women. In just one short month, they committed 8 and 5 crimes, respectively, involving more than 30,000 Yuan. They used the loot from these fly-by robberies primarily to play online games. That is to say, their minds were distorted by an inability to resist the lure of money, coupled with an unwillingness to earn money above board in more down-to-earth ways.
Although such cases are rare, they should give rise to adequate attention and vigilance by society and families – young women sinking into depravity has a far-reaching impact on the future of the family.
Everyone knows that women play a special role in the family. Aside from being daughter and wife, they have a more important role as mother, with an immeasurable impact on the next generation. One's growth into adulthood, character development and the cultivation of human values, are intimately associated with the mother's influence. And every mother has grown up from a young girl, a girl who lived under her own mother's influence. What kind of mother a girl can become doesn't begin at the moment she gives birth; it's the overall result of her development during the months and years of her life up to that time.
Embarking on the path of crime while she was growing up will bring many difficulties to this woman's later becoming a fit mother.
Because, no matter what, once a woman has her own children (including adopting children or raising children as a stepmother), then motherhood, this familial career or role in life, will become a long-term or even lifelong role.
So, I think that while everyone is scrutinizing the development of society, we should also be concerned about the phenomenon of women committing crimes. We need to reset our sights to have due regard for and to learn about women's crimes in conformity with the changing times, to analyze women's crime with a purpose, to combat and prevent women's crime in a focused and purposeful manner, to protect the health and harmonious development of society. Every family should care for their daughters lovingly, giving them affectionate care and warmth, and have them learn to love themselves and others, and build a good foundation for them to become fit, or even excellent, mothers after they grow up.
Do not let the hearts and souls of future mothers be covered in dust.
*[A "fly-by robbery" is purse-snatching committed while riding past the pedestrian victim on a motorbike – Fannyi]
Liuzhou Evening News, 2014-04-19, p. 4
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News Translations Published in March & April 2014
1. Cadres Can't Be "Migratory Birds"
2. Child Trafficking? False Alarm!
3. "Meat Dog" Actually Neighbor's Pet
4. Mother Wants to Divorce Daughter