UIUC Chinese Student Killed Girlfriend

A 25 year old female Chinese student was killed at her off campus apartment 1343 North Lincoln Avenue. The suspect forced his way into the apartment and restrained her roommate. The roommate was able to free herself after the murder left and alerted police.

A student who claimed to live next to the room said he/she did not hear sound of gunshot.

It is reported that the suspect came from Shijiazhuang of Hebei Province. Ci graduated from Beijing Communication University and Oregon State University before being accepted into UIUC in 2008.

The suspect is 29 year old Ci Yongfei, a PhD student in Mathematics, specialized in topology and geometry in 3-minifolds. According to the suspect's homepage at UIUC, he is visiting ICERM at Brown University for the Fall semester of 2013. His PhD advisor Nathan Dunfield was on sabbatical leave for the academic year 2013-2014. Ci is Dunfield's only Chinese student, and the only male Chinese student in the Math Department. Ci is in his 6th year into PhD study, but had not published a single paper. It is disappointing, as an accepted paper is crucial for a timely graduation and competition on the already saturated job market; however, it is not uncommon for a doctoral student in Math.

Ci's cell phone was located at Value Place 1212 W. Anthony Drive in Champaign shortly after. Seeing police cars pulling in the parking lot of the motel, Ci called 911 to arrange his surrender. Ci was arrested without incident.

The Sina Weibo reported this incident in great detail at the early stage, much faster than Chinese platform frequent by oversea Chinese students. Despite the censorship and the Great FireWall, the gravity of information exchanges had leaned to the mainland based social networking sites, a sign of China's emerging 'soft power'.

It has been confirmed that the death was caused by stabbing.

A poem posted by the suspect, an avid poster on MITBBS:

falling 2013-02-06 21:02:29 那天傍晚时分，忽然下雪了 很大很大 不久 窗外就变成了一片白茫茫的世界 待雪稍微减弱 我说，在家里闷了一天了，出去散散步吧 你说，好 于是套上羽绒服，相拥出了门 街上半个人影都看不到 只有我和你 在没脚深的雪里蹒跚 发出嘎吱嘎吱的响声 除此之外再无其他声音 雪白，安静 就像童话里的世界 走出一段距离 同时回头看 四条脚印，歪歪扭扭 从远处一直延伸到脚下 你忽然使劲拽我的胳膊，仰头看着我，说 我好想让雪一直下 不停地下 咱俩一直这样走下去 永远不回头 好不好 我说，好阿 可是你忘了咱们家炉子上还炖着一锅牛肉呢

A post attributed to the suspect, on relationship with his girlfriend

发信人: falling (旋转坠落), 信区: Dreamer 标 题: 终于跟mm表白了，mm却生气了 发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Feb 27 20:42:16 2013, 美东) 哥说，做哥的女朋友吧，哥之前的女友都很好看，你打破了哥这个标准 mm忽然晴转阴，二话没说转身走了 到今天没理我

Ci grew up in a noname city, went to a noname college in Beijing, followed by another noname college in the US, before starting his PhD study at UIUC. Yet he is attacking the most challenging subject among all science topics. Mathematics was not the popular major for Chinese students when Ci went to college, and Beijing Communication University was far from top-tier among thousands of Chinese colleges. Topology and Algebraic Geometry, extremely difficult themselves, became household names for Chinese students thanks to two great Chinese mathematicians (Shiing-Shen Chern and Shing-Tung Yau) who had made great contribution in these fields. Did Ci choose the subject he is working on by choice? Or was it one option of making a living? If the latter, then it could be a path too oppressive to navigated. In other words, when an overachiever taking great pressure in a foreign jungle, people close-by should watch out and prepare for a potential snap.

The Champaign County Coroner identified the woman as Mengchen Huang. Grew up in Nanjing, Huang graduated from China Central Academy of Fine Arts with a B.A. in Art History in 2010, and had been pursuing a Master's Degree in Arts & Humanities at UICU. Huang had 145 friends on Facebook. Ci had 19 friends. They were not friends of each other on Facebook as the homicide took place. Ci's status is listed as single.

Update: Huang was stabbed at least 3 times at throat, and her throat was slit. Huang's roommate was Xue Yang. Ci's bond was set at $10 million.

Yang, not knowing Ci's name, had heard about Ci from Huang, and said Huang had been afraid of this ex-boyfriend in Brown.

The UIUC Throat-slitting Case is yet another horrific crime committed by an oversea Chinese student onto another oversea Chinese student.

Update: Oct 22, 2013, Champaign County Courthouse. Ci pleaded not guilty on all charges of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder. Ci requested a jury trial. His attorney will be public defender George Vargas. Born in Costa Rica, the former Army captain obtained his law degree from Michigan State University and started his legal career in 2005.

Chinese Student Arrested After Forked Female Chinese Student on Nose

Deng Chenxi, 22 year old, was arrested by Austin Police Department late night Wednesday. Deng stabbed a Chinese student in the Engineering Science Building with a 'fork'. The fork was struck onto the female student's nose. The student was initially treated by an EMT on the scene, then transferred to St. David's Medical Center. According to University of Texas, Deng was not a student at UT.

A witness Priscilla Chang said she saw a girl was bleeding and Deng being restrained on the ground by a group of students, "I saw the guy being pinned down by a few other guys, and he was going nuts... He was yelling some crazy stuff, but I couldn't really tell what it was - he seemed incoherent. He was fighting the guys trying to hold him down."

Information posted on MITBBS indicated that Deng was from Xinjiang and graduated from Beijing University. Deng's parents had been looking for Deng for days. He went to UT to visit a friend You Li last weekend, but did not return on time.

LinkedIn in shows Li You graduated from Beijing University with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering in 2012. Li was enrolled in a Master Degree in Integrated Circuits and Systems in 2012 at UT. She interned at Freescale Semiconductor.

January 21, 2009, Virginia Tech, Chinese student Zhu Haiyang decapitated a female Chinese student Yang Xin at Au Bon Pain cafe with a kitchen knife in front of dozens of horrified patrons of the on campus cafe.

Update: Daily Texan has confirmed that the name of the female student is You Li.

Update: Police has confirmed the incident took place when a romantic relationship went sour. According to police, Chen followed all the way from China to track down his ex-girlfriend in a classroom after having audited multiple UT classes. The duo started an argument. According to police affidavit, Deng claimed that he forked the female student after being punched in face.

You's roommate Hongjiang Li said she was with You in a class on Wednesday night. She described how You had been trying to stay away from Chen, after Chen entered the classroom before class started. After class, You left to the hallway, and Chen followed.

Haier Washing Machines May Pose Life Threatening Risks

After yesterday's tragic accident when two girls were killed in a Haier washing machine, many nervous parents went back home and did experiments on their own washing machines.

The killer washing machine is Haier little genies XQB60-728A. According to specification, it is fully automatic. Features include automatic power off 5 minutes after completion of washing cycles. Also beeping alarm after washing cycles completed. Maximum washing load is 6kg.

The results were unexpected. If the drying key was accidentally pressed, although the washer will not start with the lid open, after the girls get in and close the lid, it will start high speed turning cycle to drain.

Although it is designed to pause and adding water to re-balance in case of imbalanced load is detected, the mechanism may not kick in with the tube full (with two kids squeezed in).

Police examined the washer that had killed the two girls with reporters Monday afternoon. Family members told them that the washer was purchased in 2009, and had shown frequent problems, including starting without any user interaction. With the machine plugged in and before any key was pressed, police closed the lid for three times. In first two times, the machine started all by itself after about one minute delay when no key was ever touched. The third time it did not start (as it was supposed to). Police also used 30kg rice to test the load, and observed the machine had no difficulty to start turning.

Haier Group issued a carefully worded statement in which it claimed that the washer should not start in the condition as described in the news, and that engineers had been dispatched to assist police investigation.

Although it is still hard to comprehend, but with these preliminary report, it is evident that Haier washers may have serious, and in this case lethal, defects.

Update: Xinhua News (reporter Hu Chenhuan): police had ruled out possibilities of wrongdoings based on preliminary investigation.

Update:

Oct 15, 2013. Police concluded no wrongdoings caused the deaths:
1. The parents had no previous brush with the law; and they were seen as caring parents;
2. No trace of a third person;
3. Two toddlers with similar body build were able to get in and close the lib from within;
4. Forensic experts ruled out poison, virus or sudden death;

Two Toddlers Died in Haier Washer Accident

Two sisters of four year old and two year old died in a washer accident on September 21 in Qiaoshe Township, Xinjian County, Nanchang of Jiangxi Province.

When reporter came to visit, they saw a small chair placed in front of the washer. It was believed that the two sisters climbed in the washer using the chair, and closed the lid. They managed to start the washer and were killed. At the time, the father was watching TV in bedroom, and the mother was cooking in the kitchen. The washer was on the balcony. The washer had already been cleaned, but blood stain could still be seen on inner tube.

A witness who helped transported the kids to a local hospital portrayed a horrific scene, "the washer was filled with blood".

After the incident, the two sisters were buried on the same day. The parents moved back to their old house in the country with their third child, a one year old son.

The local government expressed condolence to the tragedy. A spokesperson Mr. Hu indicated that they would provide financial assistant to the family. The uncommonly generous gesture casted a hint of a possible entanglement with the family planning enforcement. Among 19 provincial level government who released their fines for family planning violations in 2012, Jiangxi top the list with $700 million in the past year. There was rumors that the parents might get away the two girls to avoid heavy fine for the baby boy (their third child).

Lives of two young girls is too heavy to be overlooked. This accident has too many unanswered questions which deserves a full-scale and thorough investigation.

The picture shows a Haier fully-automatic top-loading washer, which was usually designed to stop working in case of overload or imbalanced load. The washing cycle was slow and should not stop the toddlers from getting out or in the least making some noise to alert their parents who were both in the same small apartment. Even if somehow the girls were stuck and drowned, the gentle movement in washing cycle should not cause bleeding. The drying cycle should not start with the lid open, and should not start with the combined weight of two kids.

Washer/dryer related death is extremely rare. According to a computer product safety commission report, between 2005 and 2009, only two children under the age of five lost their lives in laundry room accidents, in comparison to 350 death in the bathtub during the same time frame.

Also by looking at the picture, it still seems impossible for the two year old to get in. Could the four year old raise the two year old and feed her to the tube while standing on the small chair? It took a sequence of 7 keys to start the dryer mode. Can a toddler accomplish that without making any mistake?

Police needs to get involved to decide whether it was a homicide or an accident.

Haier Group (SEHK: 1169, SSE: 600690) is a multinational consumer electronics and home appliances company headquartered in Qingdao of Shandong Province, China.

Tufts University Refused to Fire Researcher Who Conducted Illegal Experiments using Chinese Children

Tufts University completed an investigation on its researchers conducting illegal experiments using children in rural China. Today, the University confirmed the accusations. However, despite calls to fire the leading researcher, Tufts University refused to take action.

Tufts University admitted its researcher took advantage of school children in remote rural countryside China between age 6 and 8, by not telling them that they had been feed a genetically modified produce. Instead, they were told it was a central government sponsored free school lunch program.

The experiment also violated Chinese agricultural import control as well as a direct ban of genetically modified produce regulation issued by both provincial and state level agencies at the time. The Tufts University also fabricated ethics approval of a Chinese research institute in Zhejiang.

Tufts University's own investigation revealed the experiment violated internal rules as well as federal regulations. Still, the Tufts University decided to keep the researcher at the university.

Identity Revealed of Chinese Who Made Arrests in LA

A Chinese who made arrests in L.A. along uniformed city police in an anti-Chinese government protest in Los Angeles was revealed to be Mr. Chester Chong (Zhuang Peiyuan). Mr. Chong was born in Hong Kong, and immigrated to California in 1982. The incident caught attentions because Mr. Chong was seen bearing an insignia unique to police in People's Republic of China.

When confronted by witnesses on the insignia, Zhuang immediately covered his insignia and fled from the scene according to witnesses. Monterey Park city police at the scene did not comment nor respond to media inquiry.

Epoch Times discovered this person had led a 76 members police delegation to visit their Chinese counterparts in Guangdong Province.

Zhuang is an incumbent provincial Senator representing Xinjiang in the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (the upper house of the provincial legislature).

In Chinese media, Zhuang was described a captain retired from the USAF, and the current chief commander of the LAPD. The Seagull found neither claim to be true. Zhuang also holds an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Armstrong University in California. The Armstrong University in California was not accredited by any accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of Education; hence, a diploma mill.

Person Bearing Chinese Police Insignia Seen Making Arrests in LA

Police of the Monterey Park City in Los Angeles, California made several arrests during a flag ceremony celebrating the October 1st National Day of China. A group of protesters said they had applied and been granted protest outside the premier.

Witness said, an Asian looking man in black suits was pointing and picking people to be arrested by uniformed police officers. The man identified himself as a police officer. In at least one occasion, the man was seen taking out a pair of handcuffs and handed it to a uniformed police officer. The uniformed police officer then used that handcuffs to arrest a protester.

Witnesses noticed the man was wearing a belt which bears a insignia of Chinese police. The man covered his belt buckle, and fled from the scene when he saw people were taking pictures of his belt.

Protectors said they demand an apology from the police for interfering a peaceful protest which had been approved. Also, they want answers why local police was using handcuffs of the man in black suits to make arrests in the US.

According to California Penal Code Section 538d, any person other than one who by law is given the authority of a peace officer, who willfully ... inducing the belief that he or she is a peace officer, is guilty of a misdemeanor. There is no doubt the man in black suits already committed a crime. What is puzzling is the role of local police in enabling and facilitating this crime. How thoroughly has the local law enforcement force been infiltrated by the Chinese government?

Voice of America contacted the Monterey Park City police, but was not provided with a reply.

Timid & Lonely

Multi-billionaire Wang Gongquan was taken into custody by Beijing police from his home in Beijing. The charge was unorderly gathering in public. The police also took a computer, two photo frames and several 'citizen' pins.

Real estate mogul Pan Shiyi was speechless when interviewed by media, stuttering, "I, I..IIII,.."

Pan later said through Weibo that his wife Zhang Xin told him to shutup. He also cited an observation made by Chairman Mao that Chinese capitalists were born weak and coward, in a self reference.

Wang Gongquan is a heavyweight even among the rich and privileged Chinese businessmen. Growing up from grassroot, Wang raised to prove his talents in business as a top aide to Mou Qizhong, a modern day legend in Chinese capitalism. While Wang was believed to be personally loyal to Mou, when Mou got into serious trouble with a few senior government officials in 1996, Wang did not dare to chip in Mou's legal expenses. "It is too sensitive", Wang told Mou's wife.

In the 2000s, Wang shined as a creator in the Chinese capitalism world. Wang hand-trained hundreds of top entrepreneurs, and is a major investor in many household names such as Qihu360, Hanting, Minsheng Banking Corp, Xueda Education, AsiaInfo, SouthBeauty, etc. Many launched successfully launched IPO in NYSE or NASDAQ.

At the highest of his success, Wang withdrew from the business world, and converted himself to a 'citizen awareness' advocate. Wang was invited as a visiting scholar at the Eastern Asia Institute at the Columbia University in 2011, studied citizen society and democracy.

Equal education opportunity was the priority on Wang's citizen agenda. With Wang's influence, they gathering a petition with 150,000 signatures and petitioned to the People's Congress and Department of Education for 28 times. Under the pressure, the Department of Education issued school enrollment guidelines for children of migrant workers.

In addition to the Beijing police, local governments in China set up hundreds of 'private' jails in Beijing to detain those who travel to Beijing to petition their cases to the central government. By law, these underground jails are illegal, but Beijing police had been kept a blind eye because central government did not want to take these cases (by law all ministries must take petitions). In the middle of a cold night, Wang Gongquan visited one of these private jail operated with other petitioners. Some media started reporting, and local governments were forced to cut back on setting up these illegal jails in Beijing.

However, Wang strongly opposes any radical reform. He warned the public, revolution could be violent and damaging when everyone got hurt badly. He said he was performing duty of a citizen with constructive criticism at a time of change.

Ever since Xi&Li took over the supreme reign one year ago, the writing has been on the wall. Founder and Chairman of Alibaba and Taobao Ma Yun 'Jack' publically praised the Tian'anmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989, when the CCP government used tanks and machine guns to slaughter college students demanding democracy and government transparency. This summer, founder of Lenovo Liu Chuanzhi scolded members of a top business salon Zhenghe Island to steer away from politics. A member businesswoman Wang Ying quit in protest. Wang was among few who publicly supported Wang's high profile withdrawn. Wang Ying recalled a conversation with Wang Gongquan, when he said, "I knew I could probably reach nowhere. But in the least I can face my children and told them I had tried."

Wang gave up his personal fortune when he eloped with another woman. Being a poem himself, he wrote a 'Song of Elopement' which was forwarded millions of times. Forty-two days later, he returned to his wife. He was not hiding his confusion when reporters asked for the reason of his return, 'I do not regret, but how could I be happy when a woman (his wife) was crying?'.

After the incident, Wang spent an entire year traveling with his family touring the world. However, he no longer wrote romantic poets.

Last week at his daughter's wedding in the US, he told the newlywed, "Maintain your consciousness, Love your homeland".

Two years ago, Wang encouraged his audiences, "we are competing in time with ruling tyranny, but just as well as with mobs who believe in nothing but violent revolution."

Today, this ever timid and lonely businessman, venture capitalist, idealist, poet, social activist Wang is spending time in a jail room because of his extremely mild advocate for citizenship awareness. Will he regret what he did?

The University of Toledo Sued by Chinese Student on Discrimination

Chinese student Zhong Wanyun 'Emily' and her husband Liu Yizhou filed a legal complaint in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court against the University of Toledo and a professor Dr. Vijay Devabhaktuni on August 30, 2013.

Zhong et al vs. Devabhaktuni et al. (CI-0201304183) alleging being intentionally and purposefully harassed, humiliated and frightened, including threatening with shooting with a gun. The professor also called the plaintiff an idiot along other abusive languages. The case alleged patterns of discrimination against Chinese students in classroom even after repeated protests.

The professor was placed on administrative leave after the incidents were made known. However, no future actions were taken when the professor did not follow the school sanctions.

The claims include:
1. Race or Ethnicity Discrimination
2. Harassment and Verbal Assault
3. Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
4. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
5. Breach of Contract
6. Civil Rights Deprivation
7. Loss of Consortium

Dr. Vijay Devabhaktuni is an associate professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toledo. Dr. Devabhaktuni received the B. Eng degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the M. Sc. Degree in Physics both from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India. Dr. Devabhaktuni's specialities are applied electromagnetics, biomedical applications of wireless sensor networks, computer aided design, among others.

The University of Toledo is public university in the state of Ohio. It is listed in the US News & World Report's college ranking as 'calculated by not published' national university.

As a public institution, if lost the case, the taxpayers in Ohio will foot the bill for the University of Toledo on this discrimination case.

Zichan Won't Abolish Town Academy

Zichan was a powerful politician in Zheng Kingdom. 542 B.C. officials reported to Zichan that many people gathered at town academies. Another politician Ranming urged Zichan to take action against these people because they had criticised government policies and spread rumors. Zichan refused. Instead, Zichan said, "if they like something to be done, I will do it. If they dislike our policies, I will adjust them. They are like our mentors. No one will be able to stop people from criticising. People's resentment is like flood, you can't block it forever. A better way is to lead it through proper channels."

A police officer in Guanzhou had been suspended after he tweeted the above story on 8/31/2013. The tweet went viral as Chinese netizens used it to mock the government's sudden tightening up on Internet censorship. Zhang Shengchun was the deputy director of the PR Department of Guangzhou Police. Any reference to the historical story was also banned in Sina Weibo, the popular Chinese alternative to Tweeter.