In the seemingly never-ending struggle of the common people vs. the corrupt officials, every once in awhile, there is a case that attracts nationwide attention.  In 2003, there was the Sun  Zhigang case, while last year protests in Weng'an, Guizhou surrounding the suspicious death of a high school girl attracted widespread attention online, and Yang Jia became famous for killing six police officers in Shanghai. 

     

This year's unlikely heroine is Deng Yujiao, a 21 year old waitress at an entertainment club in Badong County, Hubei.  On Sunday May 10, she became the perpetrator in the stabbing murder of Deng Guida, a township level official, and she also injured his companion and colleague Huang Dezhi.  The popular telling of the event starts with the officials Deng and Huang finding Deng Yujiao washing clothes in a service room right next to their leisure room and asking her to provide "special services," a not so subtle euphemism for sexual services.  The three got into an argument when she refused, saying she did not work for the hydrotherapy area.  During the argument, Mr. Deng took out a pile of money and hit her with it, questioning, "are you afraid I don't have enough money?" and pushed her down on to a sofa twice, which is when she took out a pedicure knife and stabbed him repeatedly, also stabbing Huang Dezhi when he moved towards her.  However, reports from the official media have been slightly different, as they claim that the knife used in the stabbing was a fruit knife, not a pedicure knife, implying that it is possible that the murder was premeditated, because why would she be carrying a fruit knife?  They also don't mention that Deng Guida hit the young girl with his money.  When the police arrested her the next day, they found depression medication in her bag and are currently keeping her in a mental institution[zh]. 

     

    Support Deng Yujiao, a national hero!

     

Deng Yujiao's actions have made her into a national hero[zh].  As Global Voices Online reports, not only do Chinese netizens wholeheartedly support Deng because she killed a presumably corrupt and certainly licentious official but also because she defended herself and her honor.  As often happens when stories spread like wildfire across the Internet, no one seems to trust the official version of the event, as most people believe that she did use a pedicure knife – an instrument used in her daily work – and that the officials planted the medicine so they could claim she was insane.  Netizens are calling on people to express their support – to study from Deng Yujiao[zh], learning from her courage and dignity.

     

Her implication in a case of "righteous murder" of a government officials as well as the following she has garnered online have led to comparisons between Deng Yujiao and last year's "people's hero" - Yang Jia, who was executed for killing six police officers in Shanghai.  Yet, as the blogger Yang Hengjun explains, while Deng Yujiao and Yang Jia may have a similar spirit – presumably a willingness to stand up to authority – their cases are entirely different.  As I wrote last year about Yang Jia, because his attack on the police station was premeditated – he had possibly been planning it for years – he entirely deserved to be punished.  He knowingly sacrificed himself, so he was  culpable for his actions, while Deng, on the other hand, instinctively fought back against attackers, a move that was entirely in self defense.  In many ways, the comparisons between the two are counterproductive for people who support Miss Deng, as they make it easier to justify and accept a harsh conviction.

     

In fact, the crux of Deng Yujiao's case lies in exactly this distinction – do her actions count as self defense under the law?  At first, the answer to that question seemed straightforward.  Her actions were clearly in self defense, the only question was how that would affect the outcome of her trial.  A professor from Beijing Normal University said that self-defense, in this case, would only lessen the punishment, not eliminate it completely, but Xu Zhiyong, a lecturer at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, in posting a section of China's penal code, makes clear that the threat of rape does warrant self defense.  In a more emotional plea, Yang Hengjun provides another – more compassionate way – for everyone to think about this incident[zh]: 

     

"I want to ask one question: if three men in the prime of their lives, close in on a 21 year old girl, wanting to make her into a prostitute, using money to hit her face, right when they want to rape her, if this does not constitute a threat to the life and safety of a woman, I want to know, must she wait until after she has been raped for it to be a threat to her body?  If this girl was your sister, your daughter, or your girlfriend and without anyone else there, three men closed in on her, used a wad of yuan bills to hit her in the face, when they threw her on the sofa, would you call out: daughter, first don't resist.  Obey what they say; wait until they hurt you, then take them out!"

     

Yang Hengjun's words make a more compassionate plea for legal forgiveness on the basis of self-defense.  No one who reads his description can possibly feel anything but disgust towards the two men – a disgust that many Chinese citizens feel for all of officialdom.  The question is whether the court system – and the Party that controls it – will have a sense of decency when trying Miss Deng, or, even better, respect for the rule of law.  It is here that the comparisons between Deng Yujiao's and Yang Jia's cases become more apt.  Yang Jia's case represented a huge test for the rule of law in China, which the system failed.  As another incident that has gained a popular following, Deng Yujiao's case provides another opportunity to prove that China's legal system has made progress – that an ordinary citizen can rely on the courts for protection, even against a government official.  How will the legal system deal with this challenge?

     

    Implications for the rule of law

     

At the moment, the prospects do not look good.  First, the authorities are keeping the suspect in a mental institution, implying that they might argue that she was rational when she committed the crime.  This would allow her to escape prison but be locked up in the institution instead.  However, was she really insane?  While some of her co-workers – interviewed by a television station – had heard that she was taking medication for depression, they did not think that anything was wrong with her.  And as Yang Hengjun wonders, how does rationality affect the case?  Will girls not suffering from depression, when facing rape by licentious officials, obediently lie down? 

     

The Badong County's police report, released on May 18, contained even more worrisome developments.  In a blog entry, "Ruan Zu" explained the differences[zh]: first, the report says that "Deng Guida and Huang Dezhi accompanied another person" to the club; his presence or his position as a government official are not mentioned again (still, I'm sure Yang Hengjun would agree that two grown men attacking a 21 year old girl still represents a threat to her safety).   In a major discrepancy, the police report says that the two officials requested "opposite-sex bath services (异性洗浴服务)," which is more ambiguous than "special services."  In the online debate, no one seems to be entirely sure what such services would entail and whether they are legal.  Thirdly, the police report says that Deng Yujiao was "pushed to sit" on the sofa, while previous new reports had said that she was "pinned down," so this represents an obvious difference in the amount of force.  The last difference "Ruan Zu" mentions is the type of knife.

     

Did these discrepancies result from a problem with the earlier media reports?  In an article, Chang Ping, the Southern Weekend columnist, points out those earlier media reports came from "a May 12 report from the Badong County deputy police chief Song Jun to the county government on the results and details of the investigation of this case."  He calls on the authorities to release this original report and explain the discrepancies between the two.  Otherwise, it appears as if the local government is altering the report in order to back up its case that Deng Yujiao intentionally killed the official, a charge that even a China Youth Daily columnist thinks is ridiculous.

     

Either way, the real test will be when this case goes to trial.  It is obvious that China's netizens and general populace support Deng Yujiao, but will anyone within the system stand up to defend her, a sense of decency, or the rule of law?  Unfortunately, for the time being, that doesn't seem likely.  A submitted article to our Chinese website called on the National Women's Foundation to speak out on  Deng Yujiao's behalf, something that an organization set up to assist and defend women should naturally do.  Miss Deng's actions should make her not only a national hero but a role model for women everywhere, but the Women's Foundation, as first and foremost part of the system, has remained silent.  Dealing with Deng Yujiao's case in a transparent and fair manner would mark a great step forward for the Chinese legal system and would set a huge precedent for other local officials who feel free to abuse their power and local citizens.  Does the Chinese system have left the decency to do so?