Suspected murderer took refuge in temples
Print Edition
A suspected murderer on the run for 16 years in China found refuge in Buddhist temples, eventually rising to become an abbot.
Zhang Liwei was detained by police earlier this month on suspicion of stabbing three people to death with accomplices in 2000, the Beijing News reported yesterday.
After the killings in his home province of Heilongjiang in northeastern China, Zhang fled nearly 2,000 kilometers south to Anhui Province, changing his name and finding work as a temple cook and ticket-seller, it said.
Later he moved to the Longxing Temple in Anhui’s Fengyang County, shaving his own head and proclaiming himself a monk.
He became a member of a local political consultative congress — an organ of the county government — and two years ago the monks elected him abbot, according to the Beijing News.
He was only unmasked when he applied for a passport to travel abroad and submitted his fingerprints — which allegedly matched those of the wanted man.
The monks appreciated his efforts to improve their living conditions and buildings, the report said, adding that the temple had donated around a million yuan (US$150,000) to charitable causes in recent years and Zhang was supporting two rural orphans financially.
But a neighborhood nun was unmoved.
“The Buddha tells us to be contrite,” she said. “He should have turned himself in.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
