Sympathy for the Chinese hostess

The woman involved, 21-year-old Deng Yujiao, a waitress in the Xiongfeng Hotel in Badong county of Hubei province, apparently resisted when three officials demanded “special services.” After some pushing and shoving, she lashed out with a knife, stabbing 44-year-old Deng Guida, who later died, as well as injuring Huang Dezhi, 41.

A third official, Deng Zhongjia, 45, was also present. All three men worked for the business promotion office in the town of Yesanguan. The man who died was its director and the two others his deputies. The Dengs are not related.

The woman apparently called the police and turned herself in. Subsequently, it was reported that she was being detained on suspicion of murder.

After the news broke, there was a strong public reaction. Within a week, more than 50,000 people had posted comments on the case on Sina.com, a popular forum.

While the authorities in the beginning refused to comment, the public reaction caused the Badong police to issue news bulletins on the case, followed by the township government itself taking over and appointing a spokesman.

Strangely, the Badong government then announced that the woman's mother, Zhang Shumei, had fired two Beijing lawyers who were handling the case. In China, it is not unusual for the government — or the police — to try to influence the choice of lawyers in a sensitive case or to put pressure on the lawyers directly.

The Deng Yujiao case has caught the public imagination. A group of university students in Beijing staged a public demonstration with one woman, wrapped in white cloth and wearing a face mask, bearing a sign that said: “Anyone may become Deng Yujiao.”

The public reaction is reminiscent of a case in Shanghai last year when a young man, Yang Jia, dashed into a police station and stabbed six policemen to death. Subsequently, it turned out that he had been previously abused by the police when they suspected that he was a bicycle thief.

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