A Death At A Hospital, A Shooting At A Transport Company

(XZB)  More than 10 masked men fired shots at an office building after the death of a new mother.  November 7, 2010.

The time was 3:45pm, October 23, 2010.

More than ten vehicles (including vans, trucks, motorcycles, tricycles) brought more than 100 men down the Southern Ring Road of Huilai county in the west-to-east direction.  The license plates on these vehicles were covered up with either black plastic bags or black cloth.  The vehicle fleet turned around near the Quarantine Inspection Office Building  and halted on the pedestrian sidewalk outside the Customs Office Building.  The men got out, crossed the street and headed straight for the office building where the Jinyang Transport Office was located.

A surveillance camera around the order of that building recorded this shocking scene:

　

A masked man holding a shotgun traversed the flower bed by the roadside.  He fired a shot at the building, turned around quickly and withdrew.  Two other masked men also fired shots and withdrew.  Then many more men traversed the flower bed and fired shots too.

According to eyewitnesses, there were more than a dozen guns which fired about 20 shots.

The gun smoke rising from the guns were clearly visible on the surveillance video.

Many of the windows on the first to fourth floor in the building were broken.  Some of the bullets went through the glass on the window of Jinyang Company chairman Wu Hanlin and entered the ceiling, where several dozen pellet marks can be seen.

The assault did not stop with the volley of gunshots.  More men came towards the building.  They wielded machetes, rods and steel pipes.  They vandalized the vehicles parked downstairs.  The car windows were smashed.  Eight vehicles suffered various degrees of damage, including Mercedes-Benz and Audi vehicles worth more than 1 million huan.  Even a motorcycle was not spared, as it was toppled over.

One man went up to the tea store and smashed the window glass which was already pock-marked by gun shots.

About 10 minutes after the assault began, the men got into their vehicles and left.

At the same time, Xiao Song was driving a Jinyang bus from Guangzhou back to Huilai.  According to Xiao Song, there were twenty to thirty passengers on the bus.  After getting off the expressway, Xiao Song ran into the group of people who attacked the Jinyang Office Building.  He saw this group of people armed with knives and rods coming at him.  But it was too late for him to turn around.

Xiao Song opened the bus door and let the frightened passengers off.  The armed men proceeded to vandalize the bus.  Very quickly, every single window was broken.

According to Wu Hanlin, the Jinyang Company suffered economic losses of more than 500,000 yuan.  Wu Hanlin pointed out that the assault commander dressed in a white shirt and blue trousers was Fang Junting, security chief at the Huilai County People's Hospital.  Wu Hanlin believed that the mastermind behind this attack was the Huilai County People's Hospital director Fang Guohong.  Wu Hanlin believed that the case was "directly connected" to the death of a woman during delivery.

This woman came from Yangmei village, Huicheng town, Huilai county.

At 8am on October 20, 40-year-old Weng Xiuhua came to the Department of Gynecology, Huilai County People's Hospital  After examination, she was determined to be ready to deliver.  The doctor recommended a Caesarian operation due to the size of the baby.  Wu Xiaoqiang thought that this would be dangerous for his wife who was not young for a mother.  Besides, the family could scrap together the 1,000 yuan for deposit.  Therefore he opted for natural childbirth.

At 11:50am, Weng Xiuhua gave birth to a male infant weighing more than 9 jin (=0.5kg).  The doctor indicated that the mother was healthy.  She even drank the congee and soup brought over by family members.  In the hospital ward, Weng Xiuhua even taught other expecting mothers how to work with the doctors while giving birth.  But one hour later, Weng Xiuhua began to experience massive hemorrhaging.

According to Wu Xiaoqiang's cousin Wu Huan, Dr. Chen from the operating room called repeatedly for blood supply, but none was sent over.  The anxious family members sought help from hospital director Fang Guohong.  But Wu Huan said that the director kept saying that "there is nothing in the blood bank."

At after 2pm, the hospital sent over several hundred cc of blood.  The family paid 300 yuan.  But for a new mother experiencing massive hemorrhage, this amount of blood was clearly inadequate.  Dr. Chen and Dr. Lin from the Department of Gynecology asked for more blood supply, but director Fang Guohong insisted that there was no blood in the hospital.  At after 4pm, the family members asked acquaintances to bring over several hundred more cc of blood.  They signed a promissory note of 900 yuan.

At after 6pm, Weng Xiuhua died.

The grieving family members raised several questions: As a Class II-A hospital, how could the blood bank be empty?  Why did Fang Guohong first say that there was no blood but later came up with several hundred cc?  Even if the blood bank was empty, why couldn't they ask blood to be sent over from nearby county/city hospitals?  Why didn't they transfer a patient with massive hemorrhaging to a different hospital?

On November 4 last year, the wife of Shantou village, Xixi town resident Tang Haibiao died when massive hemorrhaging began two hours after a Caesarian operation.  The hospital also claimed that the blood bank was empty at the time.  By the time that blood was obtained from another hospital, the patient had been bleeding for more than three hours already.  She died.  According to the elderly mother of Tang Haibiao, the family and other villagers went to the hospital to demand justice.  The hospital hired thugs to beat them up.  More than 10 persons were injured, including four who were hospitalized.  Afterwards, the hospital paid 30,000 yuan to the Tang family.  But the medical bills for the injured people alone were more than 10,000 yuan already.

Wu Huan believed that the common point about these two incidents was that the families did not give "red envelops" to the doctors.  The Tang family gave 200 yuan.  The Wu family gave nothing because they could barely even afford to pay the hospital deposit.  Many local residents say that it was a "hidden rule" to give red envelops to doctors.  The "standard practice" was to give somewhere between 700 to 2,000 yuan for a male infant.

Wu Huan also told the reporter that after Weng Xiuhua died, the doctor took away all medical records and receipts.  At the time, Wu Xiaoqiang did not realize the importance of those documents.

The Wu family thought that Weng Xiuhua died because blood was not available in time.  Even if this was not malpractice, the hospital was at least at fault.  On October 21, more than ten family members went down to the hospital to seek "justice."  The hospital director Fang Guohong turned them away with a single answer: "This has nothing to do with the hospital."

The next morning, almost one hundred villagers went down to the hospital with the Wu family to seek justice.

Wu Huan said that the villagers did so spontaneously.  Most of them were women and senior citizens.  They were merely hoping that the hospital could treat the injured left arm of the infant plus offer some compensation to the impoverished family members.  It was nothing like what the hospital said about "certain persons organizing to cause trouble."

At 9am that morning, Huilai county public security bureau deputy director Fang Guoqiang was getting gas at the Jinyang Company gas station.  He spoke to Wu Hanlin about the death of Weng Xiuhua.  Wu Hanlin is a Yangmei villager resident.  Fang Guoqiang thought that since Wu Hanlin is well-known and well-respected, he ought to go to the hospital to get the villagers to work things out in a reasonable manner.

Since Wu Hanlin usually works outside the village, many villagers do not know him.  Therefore, Wu Hanlin asked his younger brother Wu Hanbo (who had been the Yangmei village party secretary) to take charge.

On the road to the hospital, Wu Hanbo ran into county deputy mayor Huang Zhencheng.  Huang Zhencheng instructed Wu: "Try to keep the lid on.  Do not magnify it."

At around 10am, Wu Hanbo arrived at the hospital.  He saw "more than one hundred villagers.  There were many spectators outside the hospital.  Nobody came out to speak for the hospital.  But the situation was quite calm."

Wu Hanbo went to the hospital director's office on the ninth floor.  But he could not find the director.  He finally found director Fang Guohong in the guard room.  At the time, public security bureau deputy director Fang Guoqiang, the Huicheng police station director, the Department of Health deputy director and others were also at the hospital.

Inside the guard room Wu Hanbo discussed with the hospital representatives in the presence of the government representatives.  Wu Hanbo said, "The mood in the guard room was okay" and the hospital representatives had a "pretty good" attitude.  But the villagers outside the guard room were getting more upset.

Wu Hanbo heard that just after 11am, several women wanted to go to the Department of Gynecology on the third floor to cause trouble.  They were stopped by the village cadres and public security workers.

Office hours came to an end.  Department of Health deputy director Fang and a resident doctor tried to drive away to go home.  The villagers thought that the doctor was trying to flee the scene.  They surrounded the car and wanted to topple it.  Wu Hanbo, Wu Huan and several public security workers immediately went up to stop them.

Wu Hanbo saw three or four villagers yelling "Director Fang is inside the guard room, tell him to come outside" and trying to enter the guard room.  Wu heard sounds of broken glass coming from inside the guard room.

The public security bureau director thought that a serious situation was developing.  He spoke to Wu Hanbo in an unoccupied room.  He told Wu Hanbo: "Organize some people to get the villagers to leave, or else there will be bloodshed pretty soon."

Wu Hanbo got several respected village elders, including the ex-mayor Wu Tong.  According to Wu Hanbo: Wu Tong stood amongst the villagers, raised both hands high in the air and said loudly, "Fellow villagers, listen to me!  It is enough for just a few of us to stay and resolve the matter!"

This was effective as most of the villagers went home, leaving only Wu Tong and three other villagers to accompany the family members.  Wu Hanbo left just past 12noon.  He empathized: "I never organized or led this action."

Wu Huan stayed on.  That afternoon, the hospital did not send out any representative to negotiate with the family.  On the contrary, the family member Wu Guoming was chased by seven or eight men wielding knives and rods for almost one kilometer.  Wu Huan said that the public security bureau workers at the scene can testify to that, because they raced out to stop the people chasing Wu Guoming.

On the evening of October 26, Department of Health deputy director Fang called the family to remind them to have the autopsy done.  "If the body was not frozen within twenty-four hours or if the body was frozen for more than 7 days, the autopsy may not work."  But Wu Huan said that the body of Weng Xiuhua was forcibly removed at 7pm on October 22.  The Wu family has no idea where the body is.

At around 2pm on October 23, Wu Hanbo was getting a haircut when he got a telephone call.  Over the phone, the Huilai County People's Hospital director Fang Guohong asked Wu Hanbo why Hu assaulted him yesterday.

Wu explained that he did not participate in any assault and hung up the phone.  Fang Guohong called back three times but Wu did not pick up.  After finishing the haircut, Wu went by motorcycle to see his elder brother Wu Hanlin at the Jinyang Company.  At 14:54pm, Wu Hanlin returned the call to Fang Guohong on his way going upstairs.

Wu Hanbo said that Fang Guohong cursed him out using foul language.  The two exchanged words over the telephone.  Finally, Fang Guohong asked Wu Hanbo where he is.  Wu said that he was at the Jinyang Company.  At that instant, Wu walked into Wu Hanlin's office.

"Fang Guohong said on the phone: 'Good, you wait for me there.  I am going to get people to beat you to death!'"  Wu Hanbo said.  Wu Hanlin also heard the telephone quarrel between Wu Hanbo and Fang Guohong.  Wu Hanlin was worried that Fang Guohong would actually send someone over to look for Wu Hanbo.  Therefore Wu Hanlin told Wu Hanbo to make himself scarce.

At 15:45pm, Wu Hanlin heard firecracker sounds in the office.  The office and the parked cars were being attacked by gunshots and blows.

Wu Hanlin said that those people did not come to look for anyone.  They never said that they wanted to see Wu Hanbo before they opened fire.  Instead they came to cause trouble and take revenge.

After the attacks on the Jinyang Company office and vehicles, Wu Hanbo who had left Jinyang received two threatening calls from the hospital security chief Fang Junting.  Fang said that they were going to smash all of the Jinyang Company vehicles.

Wu Hanlin said that Wu Hanbo was not connected to the Jinyang company.  Wu Hanbo is "neither shareholder nor employee."

Aftrerward, the Huilai county government and public security bureau set up two special case squads, one to deal with the death of Weng Xiuhua and the other to deal with the Jinyang Company attacks.

So far, no conclusions have been reached.