Behind the Murder of a 10-year-old Boy in Shanxi: Neglected Children and Hidden Violent Overseas Chinese | Children | Boys

A 10-year-old boy stood against the wall on the outdoor unit of the air conditioner, crying to the people inside, "Don't hit me.". At the same time, a long stick sticking out of the window was waved and kept approaching the child, continuously tapping, and the boy immediately jumped off the 5th floor. The video of the boy falling from a building has attracted attention. On the evening of June 26th, the Changfeng County Public Security Bureau in Hefei issued a notice stating that the boy had multiple fractures and lung contusions throughout his body, and the relevant situation is under investigation.

Setting the time pointer back to a month ago in Yuncheng, Shanxi, the news of the death of another 10-year-old boy also shocked and angered everyone.

After the May Day holiday, the circle of friends and Tiktok of local people in Linyi County, Yuncheng, were relaying the notice of "running away from home" boy overseas Chinese. On May 23rd, the body of the boy was found in a cemetery near his stepfather's village, and the boy's mother and stepfather were arrested as suspects.

After the incident, there were many rumors about the domestic violence of Wang Mouhu, the stepfather of overseas Chinese, circulating in the city of Jinnan County. Former neighbors were also working hard to piece together the "suspicious" details of their brief relationship.

In May 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, along with nine departments including the National Supervisory Commission and the Ministry of Education, jointly issued the "Opinions on Establishing a Compulsory Reporting System for Cases Involving Infringement of Minors", clarifying the subjects and circumstances for fulfilling the obligation of compulsory reporting on cases involving infringement of minors. In October 2020, the mandatory reporting system was included in the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors, becoming a legal responsibility.

Today, it has been three years since the issuance and implementation of the Opinions on Establishing a Compulsory Reporting System for Cases of Infringement of Minors, but there are still some difficulties in the implementation process. From May 2020 to March 2022, there were a total of 2854 cases handled by the procuratorial organs, in which the clues involved were derived from mandatory reports. 1604 cases that should have been reported but were not reported were found, and 299 people were held accountable.

What exactly happened before the death of a 10-year-old boy named Qiaoqiao, who was supposed to grow up in a safe and loving environment? How do we discover and protect a child who is being harmed?

The last school that overseas Chinese attended was Lisi School. Photo by Wang Qian

A child living alone

Luo Xiaoyan also wondered why fourth grade children live alone.

In April this year, Xie, the mother of overseas Chinese, rented two storefront rooms facing the street from Luo Xiaoyan for an annual rent of 9000 yuan. During the chat of signing the contract, Luo Xiaoyan learned that Xie is planning to open a beauty shop here. A few days later, Luo Xiaoyan saw a red and yellow "Dancer Beauty" sign hanging up.

Xie told Luo Xiaoyan that instead of doing business, renting here is for the convenience of children's education. His son only needs to cross the road to reach the opposite Lisi School.

After checking in, Luo Xiaoyan found that the child next door always lives alone, and her mother only appears on Friday. Luo Xiaoyan only then remembered that she had already seen this boy who always came and went alone. Luo Xiaoyan asked Xie Mouduo why he trusted his child to be alone, and received a reply saying "I'm in my teens, exercise my self-care ability", so she didn't say anything more.

Pulling up the rolling shutter and entering the room, it is difficult to see the traces of a 10-year-old child's life. There are no toys or books in the rental room, only a foldable steel wire bed less than one meter wide. Walking further inside is a suite without windows. On the right side are two beauty beds, while on the other side are piles of medicine, kitchenware, and daily necessities wrapped in plastic bags. In the corner, there is also a bicycle bought by my biological father Zhang Yue for overseas Chinese.

The storefront room rented by Xie is right across from the Overseas Chinese School. Photo by Wang Qian

Starting this spring, Zhao Hongfa also noticed that his grandson Zhao Zhuo's classmate, overseas Chinese, began to appear frequently at home.

My son and daughter-in-law work in the south, while Zhao Hongfa and his wife stay in Linyi to take care of their two grandchildren while doing farm work. Many evenings, overseas Chinese followed Zhao Zhuo back home. He would sit quietly on a small stool and wait for Zhao Zhuo to finish his extra meal. Zhao Hongfa invited overseas Chinese to eat together, and he politely shook his head. "I think I still want to eat, my eyes fixed on me." Zhao Hongfa's wife would also ask the overseas Chinese how to eat alone. He replied, "My mom said, 'I eat three meals a day at school, but when I get home, I don't have any food.'"

On a Sunday, the overseas Chinese was not brought back to the village by his mother. He came to Zhao Zhuo's house to watch TV and left after dinner. Zhao Hong asked him how to eat when he went back, and the overseas Chinese replied, "Eating steamed buns" and "There's sauce.".

Zhao Hongfa's wife remembers that overseas Chinese only had one chicken leg at home. She went to an acquaintance's house to have a full moon wine, and there was no one moving a plate of chicken legs on the table. She packed it back and heated it up for dinner, but the overseas Chinese didn't politely refuse.

After Zhao Zhuo finished his meal, the two of them ran out to play and then called on their classmate Xiao Yu who lived in the same village. Sometimes they frolic in the alley in front of the house, sometimes they run up the main road outside the village, and the children gather there when the village committee shows an outdoor movie. As the sky gradually darkened, the companions went back to their respective homes, while the overseas Chinese returned to the empty room.

Since the second semester of fourth grade, as a desk mate, Xiaoyu has been almost the closest classmate to overseas Chinese in the class. Xiaoyu is afraid of the dark, and he admires the overseas Chinese for daring to live alone. "I asked him if he was afraid when he turned off the lights, and he said he had a flashlight.".

Even if his home is only a few hundred meters away from school, Zhao Hongfa still has to go pick up his grandson after school. Sometimes when he misses time while tending to fruit trees in the field, he will receive a phone call from his homeroom teacher to inquire. "If you pick him up and he goes out to play, he will feel at ease," Xiaoyu's mother, Zhang Xuejiao, told reporters. The family has to pick Xiaoyu up and down from school every day. Zhao Hongfa and Zhang Xuejiao speculate that overseas Chinese do not need to be picked up or dropped off, possibly because parents and teachers have greeted each other.

"That child looks a bit lonely," Zhao Hongfa said. Sometimes, after 6 o'clock in the morning, when he came out to buy breakfast for his grandson, he would see overseas Chinese carrying backpacks sitting on the slope of the school gate waiting for school one hour in advance.

Xie has told the landlord Luo Xiaoyan about her plan. After the May Day holiday, she will renovate the rental room to make the beauty shop open as soon as possible. "But she said she won't live here even if the store opens, and the child will still live alone," said Luo Xiaoyan.

The "fruit knife" given by overseas Chinese to his deskmate Xiaoyu ". Photo by Wang Qian

The nine situations in which minors are subjected to illegal infringement as stipulated in the "mandatory reporting" include "minors being abandoned or left unattended for a long time". Unlike several types of entities that are required by law to report, neighbors have the right to report rather than the obligation. Faced with this foreign child, they sympathized and remained silent.

Zhao Hongfa and his wife asked about the occupations of parents of overseas Chinese, "Mom is on the road, Dad is driving." They asked and answered, but the boy didn't reveal anything more. "He didn't mention that they were divorced families either. We all thought they were biological parents, but we felt that leaving the child alone was a bit irresponsible for the parents."

Professor Song Yinghui from the Law School of Beijing Normal University is one of the most senior experts in the field of juvenile justice in China. He participated in the revision of the latest Law on the Protection of Minors. "It is not allowed by law for children under the age of 16 to live independently. This kind of unattended situation can also be reported. The question is whether the relevant subject has discovered it?" Song Yinghui told Shangguan News reporters.

Divorced couples who "pull black"

On the morning of May 4th, Luo Xiaoyan saw Xie sitting on the steps in front of the door, looking at the school across the street with red eyes, as if she had just cried. Luo Xiaoyan approached to inquire, and Xie told her that the child was lost and she wanted to see if the child's biological father would send the overseas Chinese to school.

"I asked her how she lost it, and she said it was her child stealing money and hitting a few times. She also said that she would come back after hitting a few times." Luo Xiaoyan gave Xie multiple tricks and asked her to quickly adjust the surveillance.

Luo Xiaoyan was puzzled why she couldn't call the father of the child. Xie told her that the two had divorced and the other person wouldn't answer her phone. Only then did Luo Xiaoyan realize that the new tenant's family of three was a reorganized family.

At around 10 o'clock in the morning, Zhang Yue, the biological father of the overseas Chinese, received a call from the village chief and learned that his youngest son was missing. It has been 10 months since I last saw my child.

In November 2021, Zhang Yue and Xie Mouduo divorced. The eldest son lived with Zhang Yue, and the second son followed his mother Xie Mouduo.

Like many divorced couples in rural areas, the two no longer have any contact. After the divorce, Xie Mouduo never came to see his eldest son again. According to Zhang Yue's account, I don't know when Xie will remarry, nor do I know her current husband Wang Hu, and I don't know much about my youngest son's life in the past year.

At the end of June 2022, when the father and son met for the last time, the overseas Chinese told Zhang Yue that his mother had arranged a transfer for him. Zhang Yue said that he had searched several schools in the county town since then, but he couldn't find anyone. "The child originally had a mobile phone, but that number stopped working and couldn't be reached."

Zhang Yue told Shangguan News reporters that after the overseas Chinese transferred to the county town and wanted to visit their children, he called Xie several times. The two of them had an argument, and later he was "blacklisted" by Xie. "They said that since they separated and she has already started a family, they should not affect her life anymore. The meaning is that going to see the children again would disturb her life." "Although it is my right to see the children, I still need their consent."

"He doesn't have any hobbies, right?" Zhang Yue looked a bit confused when asked about the interests and hobbies of overseas Chinese. Before transferring schools, his youngest son was studying at Xiguan Primary School in Linjin Town. Zhang Yue said that he had visited the school several times, but most of the meetings were during the school's pre light washing time. He did not notice any unusual expressions on the faces of the overseas Chinese. "Sending some food to the child, I only see it for more than ten minutes each time. It's dark and noisy in the evening, and I can't see clearly."

After a few months, Xiaoyu's mother Zhang Xuejiao can still remember the reaction of overseas Chinese when others mentioned their parents' divorce. Once, Zhang Xuejiao met two children playing together. She casually asked the overseas Chinese about living alone in a rental house, and her son Xiaoyu interjected, "His parents are divorced.". "Watching Qiaoqiao's face immediately change, especially gloomy, I was scared." Zhang Xuejiao quickly explained, "Qiaoqiao, don't be angry, Xiaoyu is unintentional."

Inside Rizi Village. Photo by Wang Qian

The last image of the overseas Chinese appeared at the entrance of Xiadou Village in Linjin Town, and the surveillance footage recorded him walking home after getting off the taxi. Zhang Yue checked the surveillance videos of several nearby villages in Doushi Village and found no trace of the child.

After the disappearance of overseas Chinese, Zhang Yue once received a clue. He organized more than 20 people to search. Zhang Yue called Xie Mouduo to inform him of the news, "Give her a call, she was just making a big fuss there, saying that I didn't care about the children before, but now what's going on?"

Luo Xiaoyan remembers that before and after the Linyi police issued a joint investigation notice, Xie and Wang went back to the rented house in Lishi Village once. The two of them sat on the doorstep, crying to their neighbors that the child had not been found yet. "The man said that the child is disobedient and always steals things, and this time he stole seven or eight hundred yuan." A male neighbor suggested that the two go to the internet cafe in Yuncheng to look for it, but the neighbor also felt suspicious. "Since we found out that the child took the money, why didn't we take it away? Instead, the child took the money and ran away."

As time passed, rumors spread throughout the county town. On May 10th, a local blogger with over 100000 followers, @ Uncle Guo, helped Zhang Yue and Xie Mouduo shoot a child search video. During the meeting, Xie, who was wearing a mask, didn't speak much and kept crying. The stepfather of the overseas Chinese, Wang Mouhu, was emotional and cried bitterly while shouting to the camera, "I am the stepfather, and I cannot clarify it. Now, the only way for me to clarify it is to quietly find my child."

On May 24th, a police notice finally concluded the disappearance of a child that had been fermenting for more than half a month. The Linyi County Public Security Bureau found the missing overseas Chinese on May 23rd and confirmed their death. Suspect Xie Mouduo and Wang Mouhu have been captured by Linyi County Public Security Bureau, and the case is under further investigation.

Concealed violence

Before the mandatory reporting was included in the Law on the Protection of Minors, the Xiaoshan District People's Procuratorate of Hangzhou City took the lead in establishing a mandatory reporting system since 2018. From 2018 to 2020, the Xiaoshan District Procuratorate received a total of 38 clues regarding minors being subjected to illegal infringement, with 14 cases completed, including 11 cases of sexual assault, the remaining 2 cases of "abuse", and 1 case of "intentional injury". The People's Procuratorate of another city in East China also found during research that the reporting rate of non sexual assault cases is relatively low. Compared to sexual assault, violence is a more covert form of infringement.

After seeing the report from the Linyi County police, the neighbors who had briefly interacted with this reorganized family began to work hard to piece together those unusual details, only to realize that perhaps the child had already been in danger.

On April 28th, the last working day before the May Day holiday, after finishing school at Lisi School, Luo Xiaoyan heard a loud noise coming from a rented house separated by a wall.

"The sound was loud, shouting one sentence, slapping one more sentence, slapping another." Luo Xiaoyan heard the reprimand coming from a male. At first, there was still the sound of the child crying, but it was immediately stopped by scolding, and the only remaining sound was the unclear sound of using hands or straps to beat.

Luo Xiaoyan also thought about whether to stop it, but then realized that "educating children by parents is a family matter". She still didn't want to ask, let alone report it to the police. Luo Xiaoyan repeatedly mentioned, "Who knows, he's not his biological father."

In the first semester of fourth grade, overseas Chinese lived in the Olympic Garden community, which was more than one kilometer away from the school. Old resident Hu Hanmin remembers that during the hottest period of last summer, every morning when he finished practicing Tai Chi and rested, he could see overseas Chinese running around the community garden. "The child runs very fast, sometimes even checking their phone, which probably limits the time." Hu Hanmin has seen a man riding an electric bike following behind, and the child cried while running. At that time, the neighbors all thought that the boy who received strict training would follow the path of a sports student in the future.

The overseas Chinese family once rented in another community in Linyi County. Photo by Wang Qian

According to a report from China News Weekly, a neighbor in Xiadou Village, near the home of Wang Mouhu, the stepfather of an overseas Chinese, reported that Wang Mouhu has a hot temper and a tendency towards domestic violence. This neighbor once heard Wang Mouhu's ex-wife complain, "Wang Mouhu not only hits people with his hands, but also with whatever tools he sees.".

Overseas Chinese have confided their secrets to their desk mate Xiaoyu. "He said his biological father was good to him, but his stepfather was not good to him. If he made a mistake, his stepfather would use a belt to pull him," Xiao Yu recalled. During one break, the overseas Chinese lifted his shirt and Xiaoyu saw his scar. "He has a huge wound on his stomach, and the whole class knows about it," he said

This semester, the overseas Chinese had a left arm fracture and came to school with a fixation. "I asked him how he got his arm, and he said he fell from the stairs, but I think it's impossible," Xiaoyu said. Before moving to "Dancer Beauty", the overseas Chinese briefly lived on the second floor of another residential building in Lishi Village. Xiaoyu had been there and said, "The stairs of that apartment were broken one by one, and it's impossible for them to fall like this, unless they were beaten by their stepfather."

Zhao Hongfa has seen an overseas Chinese with a fractured left finger wrapped in gauze. When asked about the reason, the child replied that he also fell off the stairs. Zhao Hongfa did not have too much suspicion, nor did he continue to inquire. "He said he still needs surgery on his fingers." In Zhao Hongfa's wife's impression, at the same time as the fracture, there were scars on the face of the overseas Chinese, and even wearing a mask, bruises could be seen on the bridge of the nose.

Song Yinghui told our reporter that during the legislation, he once suggested the principle of "being urgent when nearby", "If you are very close to him and find danger, or if it is very urgent to carry out infringement, ordinary citizens should also report it, but later found it difficult to operate and the law did not provide for it."

According to the Opinion on Establishing a Compulsory Reporting System for Cases of Infringement against Minors, staff of schools, hospitals, child welfare institutions, hotels and other institutions must report to the public security organs if they discover that minors have been infringed upon. If relevant personnel or units fail to report clues of infringement on minors, they will be held legally responsible.

Our reporter once went to Lisi School, where overseas Chinese last attended, but Principal Fan Xiangping politely declined the interview. Whether teachers and doctors have found that overseas Chinese have suffered or are suspected to have suffered illegal infringement in their work still requires investigation results from relevant departments. However, it cannot be denied that there are still some issues in the enforcement process of mandatory reporting, such as weak occupational sensitivity of some mandatory reporting subjects and non-compliance with reporting obligations.

Prosecutors from the Hangzhou Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province conducted a survey of some primary school teachers in Hangzhou in 2019 and found that 80% of teachers believed that reporting to higher-level authorities or reporting to the police would exacerbate the severity of the situation and be detrimental to children's growth.

Cai Zhihong is an unexecuted prosecutor at the Taijiang District Prosecutor's Office in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. In December last year, during a prostitution case, she discovered multiple underage girls who had been sexually assaulted and had sought medical treatment in multiple medical institutions for serious gynecological diseases. The attending doctors did not report to the police in a timely manner after discovering that these minors had been seriously infringed upon and had not been accompanied by a legal representative for medical treatment, resulting in 8 doctors being punished. When asked why these doctors didn't report to the police, they replied to Cai Zhihong, "I don't know we need to report to the police."

In order to further promote the implementation of the mandatory reporting system and guide units and personnel with mandatory reporting obligations to fulfill their reporting obligations in accordance with the law, on May 7, 2022, the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued six typical cases of being held accountable for not fulfilling mandatory reporting obligations.

Not far from Li Temple Village, many buildings are stepping up construction. Photo by Wang Qian

Lisi Village is located in the suburbs of Linyi County, and you can walk a few hundred meters to reach the main street of the county. Like Luo Xiaoyan, many villagers divide their houses into single rooms or suites for rent. Zhao Hongfa's two-story small building also had several houses rented out to workers working at a nearby construction site. Zhao Hongfa said that tenants who come and go do not need to register with the village committee.

"If the village committee or neighborhood committee discovers that children have been violated and does not report it, they must be responsible. If there are loopholes in management due to high personnel mobility and they are not detected, it may be difficult to hold them accountable." Song Yinghui suggested that dynamic monitoring of children's situations should be carried out in areas with high personnel mobility.

The reporter visited two residences of overseas Chinese in Lisi Village. In the first apartment, a resident who has been renting here for more than a year told the reporter that he had seen the notice of missing people many times during the days when the news of overseas Chinese leaving and losing contact was continuously flashed on Tiktok, "How could such a big thing be unknown?" But he did not notice that the boy had lived in the same hospital with himself.

Because she couldn't bear the discussions of passersby, more than ten days after the incident, Luo Xiaoyan spent 50 yuan to have someone remove the sign next door. In Linyi County, the discussion about this case has gradually faded, but looking back at the "polite" and "sensible" boy, Xiaoyu's mother Zhang Xuejiao is still reflecting, "still protecting too little. If I had known about this situation, I should have cared more about him at that time."