Back from the Dead

by He Jiahong

In April 1994, the body of an unidentified woman is found in a local village pond. Suspicion falls on She Xianglin, the husband of a local woman reported missing months earlier. With such a high profile case in the balance and no other suspects, the police focus on the one thing that can clinch the a confession. She Xianglin is detained, convicted and imprisoned, and the case is closed with swift justice. But eleven years later when a mysterious woman claiming to be the wife of She Xianglin reappears, she sets into motion a series of events truly stranger than fiction.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, China

58 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2014

About the author

何家弘

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down

An engaging if detached account of a famous wrongful conviction that took place in China in the mid 90s.

Jiahong He provides the background to the case which involved a man from Hubei called She Xianglin and his subsequent release. She's wife went missing in 1994, and not too long after the body of a woman matching her description was found in a nearby pond. I'll leave my description there so as not to spoil the story for those unfamiliar with it, but She ended up being released 11 years later in a landmark ruling in 2005 after it transpired he had been wrong convicted.

The story itself is incredibly interesting, and sheds a light on the issues of the Chinese justice system -- something I knew very little about despite having studied the county's history and having lived there. As you can probably imagine, China's legal system is quite mysterious except for weird anomalies, like the public death sentencing last year of a number of drug dealers in a southern Chinese city where 10,000 members of the public attended. In a nearby city two years previously, five drug dealers had been sentenced and executed on the spot - again, in front of the public. These glimpses into the Chinese justice system are stark in how at odds they are with China's portrayal of a country that has come a long way in the last 40 years or so, and comparisons have been made to the Cultural Revolution.

The main issue I had with He's retelling of events was the complete lack of discussion about who the dead woman was after it was confirmed it was not She's wife (Zhang Zaiyu aka Zhang Aiqing). Surely the PSB must have conducted some kind of DNA testing or investigation to find out who she was? And even if not, He should have acknowledged this. I just found it weird that there was no mention of it whatsoever. Also I found He's decision to use a pseudonym for She's wife - Zhang Zaiyu but called Zhang Aiqing in this book - very odd. She was named openly in the Chinese media and her name is available in every Chinese article I found about the case online. I know it's only a small thing, it just seemed a little strange. I really hope she has found happiness now, her story was crazy and sad in equal measure.

This is only the second of the Penguin Specials on China that I have read, but now I really want to read more of them - they are brief and accessible snapshots of aspects of China that are not often discussed in English.

[Bonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

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