Wuhan Reporter Rapes Woman?
(Tianya Forum) February 17, 2008.
[in translation]
Emergency help! I'm posting this on behalf of a female friend who is in grave danger. This Internet user name was registered by a female friend who told me that there are many students here who could help.
My friend is named Xu Hongju. She is from Xianzhu (Hubei) and she has a legitimate hair salon in Wuhan. She met a married man named Cai Zaoqin who deceived her by claiming to be single and then strung her along for several years. A few days ago, Cai Zaoqin raped the 19-year-old sister of Xu Hongju, causing the rape victim to commit suicde.
When Cao Zaoqin came to his senses, he realized that this could affect his career. So he offered 1.8 million RMB to Xu Hongju to settle the matter. At the time, Xu Hongju accepted this offer. She took the money, she returned to her home and found her sister had committed suicide by hanging herself.
So now this affair has exploded and Cai Zaoqin was like a mad dog ready to bit anyone and everyone. He is a famous reporter at the Wuhan Evening News and he gets along with government as well as organized crime figures.
Xu Hongju is hiding in a small hotel now and dares not show her face. I don't even know where she is. She calls me via her mobile telephone. Last night, I heard from a female bar hostess friend that the organized crime figure nicknamed "Comrade Friend" has issued a reward of 100,000 RMB for Hongju's life. This offer obviously came through Cao Zaoqin.
This morning, I heard from the small business entrepreneurs that the organized crime figures are looking for Hongju. You may not realize just how powerful they are, but Hongju will be located quickly and killed (which will be presented as a suicide). She may be thrown out of a building to her death. Or she could be disappeared by being buried alive.
Nobody cares if women from the rural areas coming to work in Wuhan meet untimely deaths.
My only thought is to reveal this affair on the Internet. I want to let everybody know about this, so as to deter Cao Zaoqin from killing Hongju. Furthermore, I cannot believe that the government is so rotten that there is no a single government official who has a conscience enough to intercede.
Here is the entire story according to Xu Hongju. I want the truth to be known to everybody so that Cao Zaoqin will not dare to kill her:
Cao Zaoqin: famous reporter at Wuhan Evening News, married. I want to kill this man. The truth is that he seduced me and then he did the same to my younger sister.
Since I have limited education and I am very confused, my narrative may be unclear at some points. So please excuse me.
I am a 25-year-old woman. I come from Xianzhu (Hubei). My parents had many children. We were poor and I came to work in Wuhan as soon as I graduated from high school. I started a legitimate hair salon in Wuhan. I worked hard at it and the business has grown steadily. Last year, I brought my younger sister who did not get accepted into university to help me. I did not dream that this would bring her life to a bitter end.
From 2005, Cao Zaoqin came to my hair salon to get hair cuts and shampoos. At first, I believed that he was single. I only knew that he was the famous reporter Cao Zaoqin at the Wuhan Evening News who has written many news reports.
So maybe I am a pretty woman. Cao Zaoqin courted me with fervour. He kept praising my beauty. I thought that he was a gift from heaven. I was just a rural peasant woman with a high school education and running a hair salon in a city. How can I match up to him? But his sincerity touched me.
Soon, I had sexual intercourse with him. I was a virgin and this was my first time ever.
Afterwards, he took me to his rented room very often. He also came to my rented room. After each time, he never stayed the night. Since he had a mild case of erectile difficulty, he had to take some medicine to enhance his sexual potency. He also liked to use very disgusting ways to seek gratification, so that I often end up black-and-blue on my body afterwards.
Later on, I learned that he rented a room in order to deceive me. He lied to me about being single, because he was already married.
In truth, I thought that this man was very talented and I really loved him deeply. Even though Cao Zaoqin refused whenever I asked for marriage, I did not mind. Maybe I loved him too much, because I believed all the lies that he told me. He was never with me during the vacations and he never let me visit him at home. But I did not mind too much. I was a lonely woman working in Wuhan. I needed a man to help me, and Cao Zaoqin provided me with plenty of help. After all, he is a famous reporter with the Wuhan Evening News and he knows a lot of people at the Wuhan government departments.
In October 2007, my younger sister failed in the university entrance examination. She came to live with me in Wuhan. I still had not realized that Cao Zaoqin was a married man. He came to have trysts with me at my rented room. I treated him as my man. Whenever he came, I sent my younger sister down to the hair salon. Cao Zaoqin was very courteous towards her.
On February 11, 2008, I was worried about my business and I came back with my younger sister to Wuhan from Xiangzhu to continue running the hair salon.
On February 12, my sister twisted her ankle while coming downstairs and so she stayed home to rest. I left some food for her and I went to work myself.
At around 11am, Cao Zaoqin called me and said that he was downstairs from my rented room and wanted to see me. He said that he had not seen me for quite a while and he wanted to bring me some flowers for Valentiine's Day. Since I was busy at the hair salon, I said that I would go see him at his place tonight. Cao Zaoqin said that would be fine.
At around 1pm, I got a call from my younger sister. She could not speak coherently as she was sobbing.
I asked someone to mind the hair salon and I hurried home.
My sister was alone. She had a swelling on her head. She was naked underneath the blanket and she was bleeding in the lower part of her body. When she saw me, she nearly fainted as she cried. The house was a mess. A package of Cao Zaoqin's regular sexual enhancement medicine was scattered on the ground next to several roses.
Cao Zaoqin had raped my 19-year-old younger sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I almost fell apart. With the aid of my neighbors, I took my sister to the hospital. She wanted to kill Cao Zaoqin.
I learned that after Cao Zaoqin called me, he went upstairs and used the key that I gave him to open the door and enter the apartment. He spoke to my younger sister brief and then he wanted to have sex with her. She resisted his efforts. But since she had twisted her leg on the day before yesterday, she could not fight him off. In the end, Cao Zaoqin raped her.
On the evening of February 12, I brought my younger sister back home. She was still screaming that she wanted to kill him.
I was crying as I went to Cao Zaoqin's rented room to seek justice. But no one was there. I used the key that he gave me to open the door and enter the place. Then I called him. I told him to come over immediately, or else I would burn the place down. Then I used a hammer to smash all his furniture and electrical appliances. I was going mad with grief.
As I went about smashing his apartment, I broke his cabinet. He had never let me touch that cabinet before. After I smashed it open, I discovered his secret.
There were bundles and bundles of money in that cabinet. More than 3 million RMB! Cao Zaoqin told me that he was a cultural worker and he did not have a lot of money. But I saw some bank savings books in the cabinet that showed that he had almost 10 million RMB. Finally, I found some photographs of Cao Zaoqin with a pretty woman and some of those were obviously wedding photos.
Cao Zaoqin then showed up with several men. After he saw that I had smashed open the cabinet, his face blanched. He took me out to the living room where we had a big quarrel. I threatened to call the police, and the four men began to beat me. I jumped on the window sill in tears and threatened to leap out the window. Cao Zaoqin got down on his knees to beg me to stop.
I came down from the window sill and said that I had called a few female friends before coming over. If I did not return, they would call the police.
Cao Zaoqin asked to speak to me privately.
We entered the bedroom. Cao Zaoqin admitted that he was married and he had been deceiving me all along. At noon today, he had raped my younger sister when I was not available for him. He was willing to offer me 1 million RMB in compensation.
But I was greedy and I proposed 2 million RMB instead. In the end, Cao Zaoqin gave me 1.8 million RMB. I wrote a receipt and I signed a written statement that this was the end of the affair and we would never bother him again.
Late that night, I returned home with a large bundle of money. I thought that Cao Zaoqin was powerful in Wuhan and that I would never win against him. If I push him too hard, he could kill me as well as my younger sister. I thought that 1.8 million RMB was a good compensation for my younger sister.
I entered my home, turned on the light and saw that my sister had hung herself on the door frame.
I passed out immediately.
Over the past few days, I could not sleep nor eat. I did not dare notify my parents back home. Cao Zaoqin was more powerful than I realized, because he got six police officers to speak to me. They wanted me to bury my sister within a week and then leave Wuhan. They didn't care where I go, but they cannot guarantee my personal safety if I stayed.
I was very calm. I asked the "policeman" to return the 1.8 million RMB back to Cao Zaoqin. This business between us cannot be settled with money anymore. The police were shocked and said that they cannot assume the responsibility. I spoke to Cao Zaoqin by phone. He threatened me that if I wanted to continue with this, he would hire someone to kill me.
Right now, I am not running the hair salon anymore. I have left my rented room. I have a big bag of money. I am staying at a hotel. I am not leaving Wuhan. I shall not leave Wuhan.
Maybe I'll die soon, but I will die in Wuhan. I want to tell you never to think that reporters are cultural workers. There are too many rotten elements among the ranks of reporters.
(Tianya Forum) Urgent Statement From Wuhan Evening News reporter Cao Zaoqin. February 17, 2008.
[in translation]
Recently, there was a Tianya post that attacked Wuhan Evening News reporter Cao Zaoqin.
This was a totally fictitious post which has caused grave hurt to me, my family and my work unit. Wuhan Evening News and Cao Zaoqin have filed reports to the police and preserved the relevant evidence for the purpose of protecting their own interests under the law.
At the same time, I ask all the netizens who were incensed by this preposterous post to think calmly and not continue to propagate these smears and lies.
I am a reporter at the Wuhan Evening News and I cover mainly Wuhan social news. Occasionally I report on news outside of Wuhan. My coverage area does not involve any organized crimes or illegal profiteering. I am an ordinary reporter and I am not the omnipotent person as described in that post.
I cannot deny that there are certain rotten elements among the ranks of reporters. But more reporters toil tireless in their routine jobs. I hope that you can appreciate journalists more. Thanks.
Yesterday afternoon, I read Xu Hongju's post. My initial reaction was shock. How can there be such a rotten reporter committing such rotten deeds? Nevertheless, I felt that there was something in that post that was unconvincing to me. Later that night, I read Cao Zaoqin's statement. I have re-organized my doubts and I present the main ones as follows:
1. Where did the 10 million RMB come from? Where does the reporter for an evening newspaper get 10 million RMB illegally? Extorting enterprise owners? Making connections for special interest groups? These are the only two possible ways for Cao Zaoqin to amass such a forutne. To do so, Cao Zaoqin needs to meet the following requirements. First, he must have a very solid relationship with the city party/government. Secondly, he must have the criminal organizations acting as his protective umbrella. Thirdly, he must know the bosses at the major corporations. As a reporter, he can meet the third requirement easily. The second requirement is feasible. But the first requirement is almost impossible to achieve for a newspaper reporter without a government background. Without that, the returns would be meagre and there was no way to accumulate 10 million RMB. Someone who meets all three requirements is more likely to be a night club owner or real estate mogul instead of a local news reporter such as Cao Zaoqin. If he were really that powerful, wouldn't he have sought a different job with more power and scope?
2. The rented room is suspicious. If Cai Zaoqin had 10 million RMB in cash, it would be no big deal to buy an apartment instead of renting a room. Why stow away a large sum of cash (3 million RMB -- how big a pile is that?) in a cabinet in a rented room? You may say that buying an apartment would reveal your wealth, but the only people required to reveal their assets are senior government department leaders. The reporter at an evening newspaper is not required to divulge personal wealth information. In Wuhan, Cao Zoaqin could have easily bought an apartment to house a mistress.
3. In this age, it is rare to see a woman commit suicide as a result of losing her chastity from rape. Why did the younger sister commit suicide before Xu Hongju returned from the confrontation with Cao Zaoqin? Either the younger sister commits suicide immediately after the rape, or else she waits until Xu Hongju returns with a resolution that meant Cai Zaoqin gets away unpunished.
4. It is hard to 'harmonize' a death in this age. Why does not Xu Hongju not publish the location of the hair salon, the location of the rented apartments, the time when her younger sister hung herself and the funeral arrangments? If she had to flee before the funeral arrangements were made, then why not bring up the worries about a proper funeral? There is nothing in that post that one can use to verify the identity of Xu Hongju and her younger sister.
5. It is somewhat exaggerated to get six police officers to speak to Xu Hongju. On such an affair, it is better to have as few people involved as possible. Cao Zaoqin is going far more than necessary to seek six police officers to intercede on his behalf.
6. Is Xu Hongju really a simple rural peasant woman? A woman who claims to be struggling to survive in the city is fleeing with 1.8 million RMB in cash after this affair. But she can write such an explicit post and publish it at the top forums in China such as Tianya, KDnet, MOP and the Wuhan forum! She must be a veteran Internet user! Although Xu Hongju claims to be on the run and she has asked female friends to make the posts, the Wuhan police can quickly find the IP addresses. If the IP addresses are done by proxies or outside of Wuhan, then Xu Hongju must be very up-to-date with technology ...
BTW, I am doing this because I have time on hand ...