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Do the right thing
By Huang jingjing Source:Global Times Published: 2012-9-7 20:35:03
Xu Ting prunes a crape myrtle flower at the farm in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Photo: CFP
Having started out as a college dropout-turned-thief, and a well-known criminal who became a reliable employee devoted to promoting legal awareness, Xu Ting seems to have already lived a life full of drama.
Xu, 29, works as an assistant manager at a 67-hectare crape myrtle flower farm in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Having arrived at the farm early last year, he has learned to cultivate, graft and landscape by living and working with the other 30 farm hands.
"This experience has strengthened my will and hardened my work ethic, preparing me for my next mission: to cooperate with legal experts and help build an alliance to promote legal awareness and offer aid to disadvantaged people," Xu told the Global Times.
Transitional phase
At first, Xu refused interview requests when he was approached by the Global Times via telephone. But he agreed when he learned that he'd be featured in an English-language publication.
"I've already had too much media coverage. Now that my new life and career are just beginning, I don't want to attract too much attention before success truly comes," Xu said. "An English-language paper is better. After all, it will have fewer domestic readers."
Nevertheless, he still feels sorry for turning down some interview requests. Xu said he is particularly grateful to the media for its coverage of his previous theft charges.
In early 2006, Xu, from a rural family in Linfen, Shanxi Province, went to Guangzhou hoping to keep his girlfriend and find wealth after dropping out of college during his second year as a marketing management major.
"My girlfriend found an internship in Guangzhou. I followed her and wanted to be there for her. I felt I was learning little in school ... So I quit," Xu recalled.
But his focus on fortune turned him into a thief four months after he arrived, causing him to lose his girlfriend and changing his life.
On the evening of April 21, 2006, when he was withdrawing cash from an ATM, he was surprised to find that the 1,000 yuan ($158) withdrawal was noted as a 1 yuan deduction from his account. He then withdrew 175,000 yuan from the malfunctioning machine.
In May 2007, he was arrested, and the following November, he was sentenced to life. After media exposure, the case gained nationwide attention, sparking heated debate over how to determine an individual's culpability in a case where a bank is partially at fault.
Guangdong Higher People's Court agreed to retry the case. In March 2008, the life sentence was commuted to five years in prison. Xu Ting has since been a household name in China.
A new purpose
"I don't regret the experience. In fact, I have become stronger and more calm in the face of setbacks," Xu said. After saving enough money, he said he would pay back the bank one day.
In July 2010, Xu was freed on probation. In November 2010, he received a call inviting him to Changzhou to work and become acquainted with public welfare issues.
The man on the other end of the line was a businessman surnamed Song in Jiangsu. Before calling Xu, he had already contacted He Peng, who had an experience similar to Xu's.
He Peng, born in 1979 in Yunnan Province, was sentenced to life for withdrawing about 420,000 yuan from a malfunctioning ATM in 2001. His family's efforts to seek leniency for him failed until Xu's high-profile case set new precedent. In November 2009, the Yunnan Higher People's Court overthrew He's former verdict and sentenced him to eight and a half years in prison.
After one year of hard work as farmers on Song's farm, both men have proved themselves. "The boss often prompts us to read legal and history books," Xu said. Sometimes Song asks them to fetch large sums of cash for him. In Xu's mind, he is testing their characters.
This year Song arranged a new task for him: visiting law firms across the country and soliciting opinions and advice on his next mission-to establish an alliance to offer legal aid. "Some shut the door on me, but some welcome me after I introduce myself as the guy from the ATM-related theft case," Xu said.
Meanwhile, he has opened a real-name Weibo account and shares his views on current events. In April, a couple from Anhui Province, who were in debt due to gambling, destroyed an ATM, taking 400,000 yuan, and were arrested by police. The story caught Xu's attention. "The verdict they face will be heavy ... I'd like to urge people to stay far away from gambling and crimes," Xu wrote on his Weibo.
Overcoming challenges
Some media outlets have reported that Xu has an annual salary of 100,000 yuan. However, Xu said his salary is much smaller, and much of that figure is being kept by his boss and will be used on public causes.
Some have begun to suspect that Song employed Xu and He as a commercial stunt in the hope of winning popularity for his business.
"I was once jailed for fighting. Furthermore, Xu and He are the right people for my project to promote legal knowledge," Song explained.
"Besides, I never openly promote my business. Few people even know the name of my company. The farm is set to be turned into a nonprofit ecological park, focusing on things like promoting legal awareness," Song told the Global Times. All funding will come from his businesses in construction and gardening.
Unlike Xu, who eagerly discusses his new life, He still thinks of his case and how it shaped him. "To this day, I still cannot accept the verdict. There is too much inequality between banks and citizens," he told the Global Times. "When the client receives counterfeit money or gets short changed, the bank usually bears no liability. But when the banks lose, the customer suffers harsh punishments."
Xu hopes both their cases can be used to help improve regulations and justice.
Meanwhile, Xu has his own worries. "I'd like to be a philanthropist. But the precondition is that I have a decent job and stable income. Otherwise, this hope is out of reach."
Having started out as a college dropout-turned-thief, and a well-known criminal who became a reliable employee devoted to promoting legal awareness, Xu Ting seems to have already lived a life full of drama.
Xu, 29, works as an assistant manager at a 67-hectare crape myrtle flower farm in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Having arrived at the farm early last year, he has learned to cultivate, graft and landscape by living and working with the other 30 farm hands.
"This experience has strengthened my will and hardened my work ethic, preparing me for my next mission: to cooperate with legal experts and help build an alliance to promote legal awareness and offer aid to disadvantaged people," Xu told the Global Times.
Transitional phase
At first, Xu refused interview requests when he was approached by the Global Times via telephone. But he agreed when he learned that he'd be featured in an English-language publication.
"I've already had too much media coverage. Now that my new life and career are just beginning, I don't want to attract too much attention before success truly comes," Xu said. "An English-language paper is better. After all, it will have fewer domestic readers."
Nevertheless, he still feels sorry for turning down some interview requests. Xu said he is particularly grateful to the media for its coverage of his previous theft charges.
In early 2006, Xu, from a rural family in Linfen, Shanxi Province, went to Guangzhou hoping to keep his girlfriend and find wealth after dropping out of college during his second year as a marketing management major.
"My girlfriend found an internship in Guangzhou. I followed her and wanted to be there for her. I felt I was learning little in school ... So I quit," Xu recalled.
But his focus on fortune turned him into a thief four months after he arrived, causing him to lose his girlfriend and changing his life.
On the evening of April 21, 2006, when he was withdrawing cash from an ATM, he was surprised to find that the 1,000 yuan ($158) withdrawal was noted as a 1 yuan deduction from his account. He then withdrew 175,000 yuan from the malfunctioning machine.
In May 2007, he was arrested, and the following November, he was sentenced to life. After media exposure, the case gained nationwide attention, sparking heated debate over how to determine an individual's culpability in a case where a bank is partially at fault.
Guangdong Higher People's Court agreed to retry the case. In March 2008, the life sentence was commuted to five years in prison. Xu Ting has since been a household name in China.
A new purpose
"I don't regret the experience. In fact, I have become stronger and more calm in the face of setbacks," Xu said. After saving enough money, he said he would pay back the bank one day.
In July 2010, Xu was freed on probation. In November 2010, he received a call inviting him to Changzhou to work and become acquainted with public welfare issues.
The man on the other end of the line was a businessman surnamed Song in Jiangsu. Before calling Xu, he had already contacted He Peng, who had an experience similar to Xu's.
He Peng, born in 1979 in Yunnan Province, was sentenced to life for withdrawing about 420,000 yuan from a malfunctioning ATM in 2001. His family's efforts to seek leniency for him failed until Xu's high-profile case set new precedent. In November 2009, the Yunnan Higher People's Court overthrew He's former verdict and sentenced him to eight and a half years in prison.
After one year of hard work as farmers on Song's farm, both men have proved themselves. "The boss often prompts us to read legal and history books," Xu said. Sometimes Song asks them to fetch large sums of cash for him. In Xu's mind, he is testing their characters.
This year Song arranged a new task for him: visiting law firms across the country and soliciting opinions and advice on his next mission-to establish an alliance to offer legal aid. "Some shut the door on me, but some welcome me after I introduce myself as the guy from the ATM-related theft case," Xu said.
Meanwhile, he has opened a real-name Weibo account and shares his views on current events. In April, a couple from Anhui Province, who were in debt due to gambling, destroyed an ATM, taking 400,000 yuan, and were arrested by police. The story caught Xu's attention. "The verdict they face will be heavy ... I'd like to urge people to stay far away from gambling and crimes," Xu wrote on his Weibo.
Overcoming challenges
Some media outlets have reported that Xu has an annual salary of 100,000 yuan. However, Xu said his salary is much smaller, and much of that figure is being kept by his boss and will be used on public causes.
Some have begun to suspect that Song employed Xu and He as a commercial stunt in the hope of winning popularity for his business.
"I was once jailed for fighting. Furthermore, Xu and He are the right people for my project to promote legal knowledge," Song explained.
"Besides, I never openly promote my business. Few people even know the name of my company. The farm is set to be turned into a nonprofit ecological park, focusing on things like promoting legal awareness," Song told the Global Times. All funding will come from his businesses in construction and gardening.
Unlike Xu, who eagerly discusses his new life, He still thinks of his case and how it shaped him. "To this day, I still cannot accept the verdict. There is too much inequality between banks and citizens," he told the Global Times. "When the client receives counterfeit money or gets short changed, the bank usually bears no liability. But when the banks lose, the customer suffers harsh punishments."
Xu hopes both their cases can be used to help improve regulations and justice.
Meanwhile, Xu has his own worries. "I'd like to be a philanthropist. But the precondition is that I have a decent job and stable income. Otherwise, this hope is out of reach."
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