the wushan governor’s murder

8/8/2019 The Wushan Governors Murder

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Three Gorges Probe | February 7,

On the evening of September 22, 1998,the governor of Wushan County, CaiJun, was shot and killed in his own

home in an attack by an assailant carrying agun. His wife and their baby werent injured,and nothing was taken.

Cai Jun was of indeterminate age and fromChongqings Kaixian County. His educationalbackground and employment career were alsorelatively unknown to the people of Wushan,but that year he had become the countygovernor, primarily in charge of relocatingpeople in the area of the Three Gorges dam.Before his death, he had penned a number ofdocuments relating to population relocation.

The murderer, Tian Tejie, who was born onFebruary 2, 1973, had enlisted in the army in1988, without having completed high school.After injuring his leg in a fall while in thearmy, he was demobilized in 1993 and joinedthe ranks of the public security. Before theattack on September 22, 1998, he was a criminalinvestigator in the Vice Squad of the PublicSecurity Bureau in Wushan County and hadtwice won awards for excellent service.

On September 22, 1998, Wu Nanfei, wife tothe deceased, reported the crime. On the

morning of September 25th, while en routeto a job in Wanzhou, Tian Tejie confessedto his colleagues, I killed Cai Jun. On theafternoon of September 25th, following a courtsummons, he again confessed, I killed CaiJun. On the 26th, he was taken into custodyfor criminal behavior and on the 30th of thesame month he was officially arrested and sent

The WushanGovernors Murder

By Liu BaiTranslation by Madeleine Ross and Fang Li

to the Wanzhou lockup1 and indicted by theWanzhou prosecutor on the charge of willfulmurder. For the first trial, Ren Minjie from theYian Legal Office in Chongqing was appointedas counsel for the defendant.

The preliminary hearing of Tian Tejies trial

for the murder of Cai Jun began on October 16,1998 in Wanzhou Intermediate Peoples Court.After a days trial, the court determined thatthe accused had committed murder in the actof committing a robbery, and sentenced himto death. When this news reached Wushan, farfrom treating the murderer with scorn andderision, the residents began a rescue attemptof an unprecedented scale.

An extraordinary phenomenon such as thishadnt occurred since the founding of newChina. It attracted the attention of the directorof the Research Centre in Criminal Law,Chen Guangzhong2, professor at the China

1 The lockup or detention house is where

suspects are detained while awaiting trial.

2 Professor Chen Guangzhong is also the

president of the Procedural Law Association of the

China Society, lifetime professor of the Chinese

University of Political Science and Law and PhD

supervisor. Other major positions Professor Chenholds include: member of the second, third and

fourth Law Appraisal Groups for the Office of the

Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council,

vice chief of the Law Planning Panel of the

National Fund of Philosophy and Social Science,

expert adviser to the Chinese Supreme Court of the

People and member of the Advisory Committee of

the Chinese Supreme Procurator of the People.


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University of Political Science and Law, whothought that it was not a simple murder case.In order to clarify the background of the case,and in particular the motive for the murder,Professor Chen engaged the hardheadedsenior barrister from Chongqing, Zhao Zelong,who had a reputation for his daring defensesof the common people.

Zhao Zelong, born in Chongqing in 1941, wasa professor in the law faculty of the SouthwestUniversity of Political Science and Law andalso an advisor to the Chongqing municipalgovernment. As a lawyer with a great deal ofinfluence in Chongqing, he was commissionedby the All China Lawyers Association to becounsel for the defense in the appeal.

According to the legal records, the details ofthe case were as follows:

On the afternoon of September 25th, Tian Tejiewas summoned to court by the county PublicSecurity Bureau, and on the 26th was sentto Wanzhou. When interrogated, Tian Tejiecalmly replied, I killed Cai Jun.

* * *

I first learned about this case in 2001 whilein the Three Gorges area of Wushan. I hadhired a small boat to go to Qingshitan (theBluestone Strands) in the depths of the WuGorge to do some interviews, and on the waythere I chatted with the owner of the boat,Zheng Chong. We hadnt spoken more thana few words when he brought up the murderof County Governor Cai Jun. He said thatin the first trial the verdict was murder, andthe appeal still hadnt begun. After hearing

this I was shocked: a county governor hadbeen murderedsomething unheard of. SoI stopped talking about anything else andconcentrated on getting all the details fromhim. It was a shame that the boat ownerjust kept shaking his head, unable to exactlyexplain all the whys and wherefores.

On the evening of September 22, 1998,

the accused went to the top of the Seed

Planting Company building in the

Wushan Government compound. From

there it was possible to see across the way

into the county government staff living

quarters. The accused, having confirmed

that the murder target Governor Cai Jun

was resting at home at the time, went

downstairs, walked into the residential

quarters and up to flat 401 where the

Governor lived. After putting on a full

mask and gloves, the accused pulled out

a pistol and knocked at the door. The

door was opened quickly and the accused

stepped immediately into the room, the

gun pressed to the body of the victim. The

accused paid no attention to the questions

put by the victim, but only ordered,

Dont move, and also pushed Cai intothe bedroom he shared with his wife, Wu

Nanfei. The victim did everything he could

to pull the gun away from his assailant

and at the same time tried to open the

drawer of a desk near the corner of the

room. The masked man pulled Cai Jun

away from the drawer and then forced him

into the corner, threatening, If you move

again, Ill kill your baby! At that time, Wu

Nanfei and their baby, still in swaddling

clothes, were lying on the bed. The victim

picked up a flowerpot and smashed it on

the accuseds pistol. The accused couldnt

help raising his right hand, and shortly

afterward there was a sound of a gunshot.

The two men looked at each other

momentarily. The victim again lunged

toward his assailant, who took a step

back and there were more gunshots. The

accused fired three shots in succession into

the chest of the victim, hitting him right

in the heart. The victim collapsed slowly to

the floor. The accused turned and left the

Cai apartment in a composed manner. The

sound of gunfire didnt attract the attentionof the neighbors who lived nearby.


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He said, It didnt appear in the papers oron the radio, so how could ordinary peopleunderstand something so momentous? Thepeople of Wushan just knew that the criminalinvestigator, Tian Tejie, was ridding society ofan evil. I asked him what the public appraisalof Cai Juns governance was and he answeredthat he only knew that during the floods inthe summer of 1998, all the other countygovernors tried to do what they could, andCai Jun was the only one off traveling abroadhaving fun. Also, quite a lot of money from theWushan Tobacco Company had disappearedinto his pocket. Everyone hated him and knewhed been murdered, and were secretly verypleased about it.

The next day on the way back fromQingshitan, I wanted to get in touch with TianTejies father as soon as possible. I phoned hima few times but he never answeredperhapshe didnt want to meet a reporter? Perhaps hehad nothing to say? Later I found out throughsomeone in the Wushan Public SecurityBureau that the Chongqing lawyer ZhaoZelong was to represent Tian in the appeal.Even if I couldnt talk to his family, perhapshis lawyer could explain the circumstances of

the case. So I took a speedboat to Chongqingstraightaway.

I met the barrister Zhao Zelong in a teahouseon the banks of the Jialing River. We chattedthe entire day. Something he said made anenormous impression on me: an unsettledcase was closed through force. I never forgotthat.

* * *

This is Zhao Zelongs narration of the events:

When I took on this case, what most perplexedme was why a criminal investigator wouldkill someone. Before this, Tian Tejie hadbeen an assiduous policeman, who was notonly outstanding in his field but had also wonawards. Once in 1995, he actually jumped out

of a building in pursuit of a man who hadassaulted someone while drunk, and pinnedhim down. In May of 1998, a man trying toresist arrest had strapped explosives to himselfand threatened that whoever tried to arresthim would go down with him, but Tian Tejieand the head of the Vice Squad both leapt upand captured the man before he could react.

Logically speaking, Tian Tejie had no clearmotive for this offense. The written statementfrom the first trial stated that he was undermuch stress: his parents disapproved of hismarriage, the Internet caf he was managingwas losing money, and his work unit waspressing him to contribute more toward theHousing Establishment Fund3. So pressured,

he came up with the idea of robbing thegovernor, Cai Jun. But would this explanationhold water? If we say that plunder was themotive, the testimony of Cai Juns wife, WuNanfei, states that from the time he enteredthe house until the time he murdered Cai Jun,he never once said a single word about money.Besides which, at the time there was a sum ofabout twenty to thirty thousand yuan in thedesk drawer that Cai Jun had pulled open butTian hadnt touched a cent of it, so how could

robbery have been the motive?

Once the verdict of the first trial had beenhanded down, Tians father met with him toimplore him to appeal. Tian was unmoved.Sobbing, his father said, Son, youre a goodperson, so why did you have to kill someone?I cant let you accept the death penalty forno good reason. If you die, we have to reallyknow why. Son, I want you to appeal. Thatwas the first time father and son met, but theydidnt go immediately to ask for an appeal andresolve the issue. The next day, Tians counselat the first trial, Ren Minjie, talked with Tian

3 The Housing Establishment Fund is run

within an organization (in this case the county

police bureau). Staff make payments to the fund

and the money raised is used to build housing for

the contributors.


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again, repeatedly advising him that if he didntappeal, he would hurt his parents very deeplyand they would suffer on account of him forthe rest of their lives.In the end, this convinced Tian to put histhumbprint4 on the appeal document.

When I took over this case, I went on a specialtrip to Chongqing to see Tian. He was wearingthe complete prisoners outfit and sat oppositeme with a pale face after being brought outcalmly under escort. I asked him his opinion ofthe verdict from the first trial and he was silentfor some time before replying, Ive admittedto murder but it wasnt in order to steal. I didcommit murder, but there was no reason for it,there was no purpose to it.

However, in the testimony taken shortly afterhe was arrested, Tian had confessed that hehad long had a motive for killing Cai and hadkept him under surveillance for some timebefore the murder. But after seeing me, hesuddenly retracted his testimony, especiallythe concrete details about the stages of themurder. He explained it as follows:

According to the circumstances of the crimescene, Tians explanation that the motivewasnt robbery is believable. But I still thought

4 A thumbprint is the equivalent of a

signature and is standard on legal documents in

China.

that even if things happened just as Tian saidthey did, why hadnt he gone to someoneelses house? Why had he gone specificallyto Cai Juns house? So I asked again. Tianreplied, Why? Because I had a dream, and inthe dream Cai Jun was doing all sorts of evilthings, so I killed him. Tian Tejies answercame as a big surprise to me, because thisresponse completely contradicted his earlierstatement that he wasnt thinking of killinghim and that there was no reason for it andno purpose to it. Now, his murder of Cai Junseemed to have a strong sense of purpose. Itseemed to be closely related to something thatwas going on in the background at the time.One of the first things that I chanced upon,and something that also affected Professor

Chen Guangzhong, was the petition written bythe retired cadres of Wushan County entitled,Submission to the High Court of Chongqing,and signed by more than 2000 people in thecounty. It seemed that the head of the county,Cai Jun, had incurred the wrath of god and thepeople. The petition read as follows:

However, this wasnt the substance of mydefense of Tian Tejie. My responsibility wasto investigate thoroughly the truth behindthe murder. Why would such an outstandingcriminal investigator kill someone who wasunarmed?

Tian had dreamt about Cai Jun, but whatsort of dreams did Tian have about him?

At the time I wasnt thinking of killing

him, but when he tried to grab me,

only then did I load the pistol and told

him that I had a gun, to scare him off.

I never expected him to try and grab

me again. I got a fright and pressed

the trigger. At the time I wasnt aware

of the fact that he had seized my right

hand with his hand and when I stepped

back, the gun went off. He never let go,

he kept pulling and the gun kept firing.

When I heard it go off, I didnt really

realize what it was, but I was afraid.

On behalf of the 580,000 people of Wushan

County we request mercy to be shown to

Tian Tejie. We beg that the high court will

be lenient in its treatment of a policeman

who is good to the people, Tian Tejie. The

public prosecutors office has claimed that

the murder of the County Governor has

had a bad effect on the reservoir area of

Chongqing. But this is not the case. In the

hearts and minds of the people of Wushan,

there wasnt one who disliked Tian

Tejie. On the contrary, the people really

sympathize with him


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According to responses to questions put toTian Tejie at the time, they were mainly thefollowing:

Tian spoke about his feelings following themurder:

Tian also said that after the killing he wasntat all afraid, as if his physical body had beenspurred on to do it by someone else.

The difference between Tians early and later

depositions was too great: a dream was thedeciding factor in whether Cai Jun lived or died.One must admit that this was a strange case.

Just looking at the dreams in isolation, thelogic in them was fairly standard, but theycontradicted parts of the case. Earlier on hehad said he didnt understand why he hadmurdered Cai Jun. Later he said he had to killand subsequently had a sensation of immenserelaxation. This tallied with the symptoms of

depression. Therefore I submitted a documentimmediately to the Chongqing High Courtrequesting an expert psychiatric assessment ofTian Tejie. Chen Guangzhong and a number ofother professors had in fact also recommendeddoing so. I thought that the psychiatricassessment could be the determining factor inwhether the verdict might be overturned in theappeal.

In the first dream it was about 1996 when

I first saw Cai Jun on the road to Dachang.

He was calling out to a member of thePublic Security Bureau at the same time as

getting into a car. I noticed that he had two

very ugly protruding front teeth. I couldnt

help shuddering. Wasnt this the hateful

person I had seen in a dream? Asking some

other people who he was straight away, I

found out he was the governor.

In the second dream, Cai Jun had come out

of the county government offices in a car

driving in the direction of Longmen. I was

riding my motorbike behind him. Someone

gave me a knife and asked me to kill him. I

immediately caught up with him and killed

him. My whole body was covered in sweat

and inwardly I had a sort of relaxed feeling

that Id never experienced before.

In the third dream, Cai Jun had just come

out of an Internet caf. Someone asked

me to kill him, but I said I didnt have a

knife, so they gave me one saying, You

must kill him as hes your arch enemy.As long as he lives you wont be able to

hold up your head. But that time I didnt

manage to kill Cai Jun, instead he grabbed

hold of both of my hands so I couldnt

move a step. After waking up the next day

I felt extraordinarily sad. I didnt speak to

anyone for the entire day, and didnt reply

even when someone called out to me.

And in the fourth dream, Cai Jun raped my

girlfriend right in front of my eyes. Thatwas the trigger for me shooting him.

My main feeling was one of total relaxation

from head to foot. I felt like a man who can

breathe his first breath of fresh air after

It was as if I were in hot pursuit of a

criminal or carrying out the death sentence

on an evildoer. When I killed him, it didnt

seem like it was me doing it, it was as if

my mind was getting instructions from

someone else. On September 25th in the

lockup, I saw that everyone was discussing

Cai Jun and the fact that I had killed him.To confirm what I was hearing I turned

round and banged my head on the wall

a few times, which was when I realized

that I had really killed someone. I dont

regret having killed Cai Jun. The business

between us has now been settled. In a past

life he probably killed me, so in this life I

had to kill him.

being locked in a very muggy place. I was

now totally free, as one feels after being

tightly tied up and then suddenly released.

After feeling like I had millions of ants

biting me all over, there suddenly wasnt

even one ant left on me.


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In the spring of 1999, the whole of Wushanwas talking about and waiting for the outcomeof the appeal. As his legal counsel, I felt adeep sense of responsibility. On March 25th, Isubmitted an application to the High Court ofChongqing requesting an expert psychiatricassessment of Tian Tejie. On April 14th, I wasunexpectedly informed that the court hadcarried out a psychiatric assessment of Tian onMarch 20thin other words, five days beforeI had made the applicationand they nowproduced a copy of the Psychiatric AssessmentReport. It seems that, as early as March 16th,the Chongqing High Court had issued aletter requesting a psychiatric assessment ofTian. This was not what I had expected. I alsoremembered that on March 23rd when I had

gone to the Chongqing lockup to see Tian, hehad said to me, Two days ago someone fromthe court came to ask me a few things, butapart from that no one else has come to seeme. Was that supposed to be the assessment?

I believe that the Chongqing High Courtspsychiatric assessment of Tian was veryirresponsible. In the first place, I was thedefendants appeal lawyer, so legally speakingI was the only person who had the right to

request that the High Court do a psychiatricassessment of my client. After my requesthad been approved, I should also have hadthe right to choose a psychiatrist to conductthe assessment. The fact that the High Courthad made the decision and organized theassessment, without prior consultation withme, the appeal counsel for the defense, wasin contravention of the spirit of the law.Moreover, I could see from the PsychiatricAssessment Report I had been shown, thatit was based solely on the March 23rd talkthat Tian had told me about. Of his physicalcondition the report simply stated, Healthy,normal. It did not include anything morespecific or any facts. The space allocatedfor writing laboratory test results had beenleft totally blank. In the space headedConversation With the Person Being Assessedwas written, Of a clear mind, speaks normally,

no abnormal behavior in the lockup. Theplace of assessment was stated as ChongqingPolice Watch House. The final conclusion?There is not sufficient evidence of anymental disorder; capable of taking criminalresponsibility.

Faced with this kind of judicial assessmentmy only reaction was indignation andhelpless anger; it was clear that the verdict ofthe appeal had already been decided by theassessment report. Not surprisingly, on April2nd, the summation at the appeal trial stated,

After the verdict was handed down, I askedfor an explanation of the procedures fromthe judges, one of whom replied that nothingcould be done about it, that the decision hadbeen made by higher authorities.

As the legal counsel for the defense, whatI most hoped to see was a just verdict.Regardless of anything else, the life of TianTejie should be respected. This respectentitled him to a fair psychiatric assessment,including having the assessment carried outby professionals in a scientific manner. If theproper legal procedures had been followedand it had then been proven that Tian hadcommitted the crime deliberately and of hisown volition, it would still have been possibleto issue a verdict of willful homicide. A one-

This court considers that the facts of the

first trial have been verified, that the

correct laws were applied, that the penalty

was appropriate and that proper judicialprocedure was followed. We accepted

the request of Tian Tejie and his counsel

that he be allowed a judicial psychiatric

assessment. Having been assessed, this

court concludes that the accused, Tian

Tejie, has not shown sufficient evidence

of a psychiatric disorder. He is capable

of taking criminal responsibility for the

murder. The court does not accept the plea

by his counsel that it was inappropriate to

sentence the accused for murder.


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off chat is surely not an assessment. Thispresumptuous behavior is typical of the sort ofdisregard for the law so common today.

* * *

On March 17, 1999, a gunshot by the YangtzeRiver finished a young life, that of the 26-year-old Tian Tejie.

After the execution, Tians father received anotice from the Chongqing High Court:

Tians father didnt say a word. He crematedhis son in Wanzhou, and with the ashesin both hands, took a boat downstream to

Wushan County, in spite of people urging himnot to do so.

Local people from Wushan heard about itahead of time and thousands of them wentspontaneously to the harbor, lining thestreets of the town to welcome this well-loved man home. In this way they paidtheir silent respects to the young hero anddemonstrated their hatred of corrupt officialswho oppress the people. How many of thesepeople knew about the petition to the Central

Party Disciplinary Committee, written by theretired cadres of Wushan County. The petitionasking for leniency for Tian Tejie was also animpeachment listing 15 crimes describing howCai Jun became filthy rich so fast.

Here is the petition:

Central Party Disciplinary Committee:

We are the retired cadres from WushanCounty (in Three Gorges reservoir area)of Chongqing Municipality. We have, timeand again, reported to various departmentsof the Chongqing Municipal Governmentand the Central Government on theillegal activities engaged in by Cai Jun,the late Governor of Wushan County, whowas killed by an enraged local man. Caiabused his position in charge of populationrelocation and rebuilding the new town,wantonly embezzling relocation funds,receiving bribes, obtaining official positions

by paying for them and selling governmentposts. The investigators who were sentdown from Chongqing city and WanzhouPrefecture probably made some cursoryinquiries about the situation. However,they were so closely supervised andextravagantly entertained that they only

saw and heard the ostentatious behaviorand boastful hype of the corrupt officialswho looked after them extremely well.Ordinary people, or people who knew theinside story, had no opportunity to meet theinvestigators or report on the real situation.

In order to combat criminal activities andexpose the corruption of officials like CaiJun, the governor of Wushan County, weare writing to you in the hope that theCentral Party Disciplinary Committee willsend an honest person to investigate. Weneed someone of integrity, someone ableto imitate Emperor Qianlongs5 style of

5 Emperor Qianlong reigned from 1735 to

1796 when he abdicated in favor of his son, but

unofficially retained power until his death in

The body is to be cremated locally and the

ashes are not to be taken away. If the

ashes are taken back to Wushan, the

perpetrator will be liable for all the

consequences.

...a gunshot by the Yangtze river finished a

young life, that of the 26-year-old Tian Tejie.


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investigation by going among the peoplein plain clothes. That would bring justice tothe people.

Here are the facts as we know them:

During the time when Cai Jun was the1.commander charged with rebuilding thecounty, he brought with him to Wushanmany relatives and friends from hishometown, Kaixian. Having given themfull control of many building contracts,other people couldnt get contracts evenafter trying all sorts of strategies andgiving bribes of money and presents. Oneof his relatives, a very rich man in Wushancalled Boss Xiong, was so rich just because

he was related to Cai Jun and had over 10million yuan in the bank alone. Boss Xiongled a dissolute life, openly keeping twowives, and probably other women that noone knew about.Whoever came to Wushan from outside2.to get some of the county rebuildingcontracts had to give presents or moneyto Cai Jun or there was no way they couldget work. Whenever the Governors namewas mentioned, the contractors involved

in rebuilding the new county gritted theirteeth in disgust. They all asked the samething: in what way was Governor Caianything like a Communist Party cadre?Governor Cai introduced some high-3.quality tree saplings into Wushan and gavehis relatives the contract for the plantingproject. In the end, very few saplings wereplanted and to date none of them havesurvived, but the 200,000 yuan commissionwent into the pockets of Cai, his relativesand friends. The people in the small townsof Qingfeng and Tonggu in WushanCounty reacted strongly to what hadhappenedthey were extremely unhappyabout it.Governor Cai, in his official capacity,4.

1799. He was rumored to have used undercover

investigators to flush out corruption.

imported three ostriches and kept themin the dyke area between Guandu andDangyang. He invested one million yuanof public funds in that county enterprisewithout making any profit at all. However,the 100,000 yuan commission to arrangethe project disappeared into GovernorCais pocket very early on.The villagers of Beishi near east5.Chongqing often wrote to the higherauthorities complaining about relocationissues and the situation they were in. Whenthe central government sent investigatorsto Beishi, the Wushan County leaderssaid that the people who were writing thereports were being rebellious. As a result, athousand local cadres were selected from

county government departments and sentto Beishi, along with armed policemen,to confine the people in each householdto their homes and to prohibit them fromapproaching the investigators without firstobtaining permission. People got theirfreedom back only after the investigatorsleft. Everyone was very angry, and eventhe guards thought it was unfair. They hadno way to express themselves but by airingtheir grievances to the torrential Yangtze

River.After the Governor was killed, his6.family and the house were put undersurveillance in order to crack the murdercase. Thousands of Chinese yuan and USdollars were found in his home and office.There was also gold and silver jewelleryeverywhere, and a steel safe whichcould not be opened. As for the valueof his assets, the county administrationinstructed that there was to be no leak tothe outside world about this.The trail of evidence of the Governors7.corruption has been clearly exposed. But atthe moment, all his money and valuablesare in the hands of his wife and familyand nobody is allowed to talk about hiswealth. Nevertheless, the 580,000 peopleof Wushan County demand that theGovernors assets be thoroughly verified


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for tax evasion of 15 million yuan. Thecounty government intervened and the taxinspectors, who were paid 300,000 yuanin one hit, dropped the charge withoutmaking the truth known, so national assetsworth 15 million yuan went down thedrain. The case files are still kept in the taxinspectors office and if you sent a personin authority to investigate, the case couldbe solved.At the moment, the Wushan lockup13.is holding somebody in custody whois opposed to the way the countyadministrators are handling the ThreeGorges dam population relocation. Hewants to go to Beijing to complain butthe county administration is afraid he will

make trouble and has kept him in thelockup for an extended period.Leaders in Wushan have not built roads14.but have instead spent money buyingluxury cars. They have bought over 100top-of-the-line cars such as Toyota LandCruisers, Mercedes Benz, Crowns andMitsubishis, plus dozens of extra onesdonated, free of charge, by GuangdongProvince.7 Whenever high-up officials cameto visit, the local leaders would bring out

all the fancy cars to ingratiate themselveswith their superiors as much as they could.Ordinary people could do nothing but letout a deep sigh. What sort of way is this forthe Communist Party to act?Governor Cai came from Kaixian15.County. When Cais father died lastyear, a motorcade of over 30 cars carriedofficials from the Wushan County PartyCommittee, the county government andvarious departments and bureaus who all

7 It was national policy that rich provinces

and municipalities in coastal areas should support

the rebuilding of the Three Gorges reservoir area,

whether with financing or equipment. So in some

cases, cars were contributed to the counties that

would be affected by the dam, especially in the

early stages of the population resettlement.

The Wushan Governors Murderis the firstin a series of oral histories from Chinas ThreeGorges region.

Banned and famed Chinese environmentalistand journalist Dai Qing has organized a teamof journalists to record a remarkable collectionof oral histories from the riverside towns andvillages affected by the Three Gorges dam onChinas Yangtze River. Three Gorges Probeisproud to bring you these uncensored, touchingand often shocking stories. Those forciblydisplaced by the worlds largest hydroelectricproject have been denied a voice for too long.This collection gives it back.

Translation, editing and online publicationof the series by Chinese author Dai Qing andProbe International has been made possibleby funding from the Foundation OpenSociety Institute (Zug). For more information,contact Probe International at [email protected]

went to pay tribute to himit was quite aspectacle. Donations amounting to 200,000yuan were received. The whole thingmade a very negative impression on localpeople, who were furious but didnt daresay anything.Secretary Liu16. 8, we didnt dare to informyou directly of the situation and this letterhad to be posted from outside Wushanbecause if it were to be found, it could havedisastrous consequences for us. We arerisking our lives to inform you of the realfacts in Wushan. We earnestly hope youwill feel that what is happening in Wushanmerits your serious consideration.

Comrades from

Wushan Veteran Cadres BureauNovember 15, 1998

8 Secretary Liu was the head of the Central

Party Disciplinary Committee at the time.

the wushan governor’s murder

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