Detainee Suicided in Custody

A detainee was suicided in custody at Xiaonan Police Station in Kunming, Yunnan Province.

Xing Kun, a small time thief caught wet was detained by the police. Days later, he was found dead in a jail room.

At first, Kunming police was not sure how did he commit suicide under continuous video surveillance. After three days of deliberation, the police decided that Xing died by hanging himself with a shoe tie. In a news conference three days after Xing's death, Kunming police had a story to tell reporters. Xing opened up his handcuffs with a sheet of face tissue, then hanged himself with a shoe tie at a dead spot of the video camera. The police can't explain how did Xing obtain the shoe tie because Xing's own shoe ties were removed when he was taken into custody.

Xing, a small time thief, had been caught and detained by police at least five times. This time he was accused of stealing $100, too low to warrant a court hearing. The maximum he might got would be less than one year of labor camp (different from jail time which must be handed down by a court) under police supervision. It's hard for his family to comprehend the motives of the suicide.

Many Chinese believed Xing was suicided by police, especially after the police refused to let the family take pictures of bruises and wounds found all over his body.

In an earlier incident, a detainee died when playing peek-a-boo with other inmates under custody of Kunming police. The Chinese name of the game 'duomaomao' became a most popular phrase in Chinese.

You Can Count On Me

Tang Yueyun and his wife after home burned down. Their eight years old daughter Xiaomin fled from her flaming house, but then rushed back in to save his little brother Xiaoze.

April 27, 2008, Kunming. When the family of Tang Yueyun opened door after having lunch at home, a big flame jumped on them and ignited the room all of a sudden. The flame came from a gasoline tank they placed outside the house, although the reason why it is burning by itself on a cloudy day remains unknown. The Tang couple and their eight years old daughter who were about to leave for work got out just in time while the fire consumed the entire house. All the neighbors started running for life, while the Tangs stood in a distance watching their home burned. They one year old son was still sleeping on the bed.

The fire is just too hot for anyone to get close. But suddenly, Xiaomin got out of hands of Tang and rushed back to the house. "I have to go save Xiaoji", that's why she said before disappeared in the big flame. Perhaps her last word, Tang jumped in the flame too and found the two children. The eight years old sister was covering the little brother with her body. Tang was able to take both children out. Both children were severely burned.

The Tangs lost everything they had owned, including all $700 savings of cash. The house is little more than ashes, and all they have is $40 pay from a past job.