A policeman in southern Yunnan's Mengzi County was sentenced to death yesterday for murdering a person with whom he was arguing about a scratched car in February, according to local media reports.

The Intermediate People's Court of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture ruled that although Ji Zhongchun (吉忠春) confessed to most of the charges leveled against him and did not flee the scene, he deserved no leniency.

On February 13, Ji, aged 42, was driving his car in reverse while drunk, when he allegedly scratched the car of Pan Jun, 40. Ji and Pan got into an argument over the scratch, during which Pan hit Ji. Ji then shot Pan to death. The incident was reported to local police by witnesses at the scene.

In addition to being sentenced to death, Ji was stripped of his political rights for life and ordered to pay Pan's family 100,000 yuan (roughly US$14,700) in compensation. Ji was also reprimanded for drinking while carrying his weapon and for drunk driving.

The high-profile murder, which took place on February 13, put the spotlight on improper behavior by off-duty police officers in China, where it is not uncommon for police to use their cars to escort friends and relatives or to wear uniforms when off-duty.

Ji disputed the court ruling and said he plans to appeal his sentence.

Editor's note: Every week for the remainder of 2008 GoKunming will publish photos from the collection of Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming. The photos have been provided by Kunming resident and private collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊). GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing us a glimpse of Yunnan at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Year: 1901-1902
Subject: Yunnan's ethnic minorities
Location: Southern Yunnan

Background:

In addition to the time he spent as French consul in Kunming, Auguste François also spent time traveling in southern Yunnan, where France was building a railroad from Vietnam to Kunming. In the course of his travels, he had the opportunity to photograph some of Yunnan's smaller ethnic groups for the first time.

Spending most of his time around the ruling Manchu of the Qing government and the majority Han, it seems that Yunnan's other ethnic groups piqued François' interest.

The Yi slave

The above photo is of an ethnic Yi (彝族) man. The man is a slave and a member of the White Yi (白彝) branch of the Yi people, who were not typically enslaved, unlike their unfortunate cousins the Black Yi (黑彝), who were considered a slave race. Note the man's Manchu-style braid.

A Catholic girl in Honghe

The girl in the above photo was a resident of southern Yunnan's Honghe prefecture (红河州). François noted in his journal that the girl, who is believed to be from the Hani ethnic group (哈尼族), was Catholic – a result of French missionaries venturing into Yunnan in the 1860s. The Hani, who today are concentrated primarily between the Lancang and Yuan Rivers, share ancestral roots with the Yi.

Today the French missionaries' legacy is still palpable in Yunnan, with several old churches dotting the province, plus thriving coffee and wine industries that owe their origins to beans and grapes introduced by the missionaries as they traveled the province.

Miao girls in Mengzi

The above image is of three young women belonging to the Miao ethnic group (苗族), also known as Hmong. François took the photo while in Mengzi (蒙自) in southeastern Yunnan. This photo sticks out within François' photos of China for having a more anthropological feel.

The Miao originally lived in southern China but eventually began migrating into the northern regions of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in the 1700s for political and economic reasons. The Miao that stayed in Yunnan moved up into the mountains as more Han Chinese moved into the region. This isolation led to cultural and linguistic fragmentation of the Miao.