Death sentences were handed out today to five members of a Kunming-based gang accused of involvement in drug trafficking, fraud, racketeering, extortion, prostitution and selling counterfeit money, according to a Xinhua report.

The head of the gang, Jiang Jiatian, 56 was sentenced to death along with his mistress Yang Jufen, her father Yang Guoying, and Xie Mingxiang, a fourth member of the 41-member gang's core. Most of the gang members were relatives or friends of Jiang.

The four convicted gang leaders were sentenced in the Intermediate Court of Kunming, with Li Wencai, a fifth gang member, receiving a death sentence with two-year reprieve. The remaining members of the gang were dealt sentences ranging from 18 months to life in prison.

According to a spokesman for the court, Jiang made his initial money in the 1990s trafficking drugs, later investing his ill-gotten gains in hotels, teahouses and internet cafes around Kunming.

The gang reportedly came under police scrutiny after residents of more than three villages around Kunming complained about feeling unsafe. Some of the complaints included being threatened with violence until agreeing to pay 1,000 yuan (US$146) for a pot of tea, or being beaten up after objecting to receiving fake bills as change.

Danwei features the introduction of and an extract from the recently republished memoir by "princess" Der Ling who recounts her two years spent in the Forbidden City serving Empress Cixi. (Requires proxy)

Matt Schiavenza links to a The National article about two Jewish Americans, both called Sidney, who lived in China during and after the civil war. Coincidentally, the New Yorker's Letter From China blog features a short interview with one of the Sidneys about his views on China today.

China Beat interviews Ole Schell, director of a new documentary about the Chinese entrepreneurs who competed on the wildly popular TV game show Win in China.

James Fallows' blog embeds a video from the Atlantic's "Doing Business in China" series in which a handful of Chinese high-flyers are asked a surprisingly tricky question: What is communism?

China Sports Today writes about the medal-fixing scandal afflicting the national games. China Hush also has a full translation of an Sina interview with the informer who has made the accusations.

In what is possibly the saddest and most 'lei' 雷 (shocking) story on ChinaSMACK (and there's a lot of competition), a prostitute shares all about her sexual health, her contraction of AIDS, as well as all the phone numbers of her clients.

And in a short post, ChinaGeeks looks at a fellow who has recently been in the news, Mao's grandson Mao Xinyu, and the content of his popular blog.

After a recent investigation, the so-called "virgin prostitute" case, known in Chinese as "the March 16 incident", was discovered to be a plan by Liu Shihua to mislead the media and public, according to local media reports.

Kunming police told local media that in October of last year, Liu Shihua (刘仕华) and Zhang Anfen (张安芬) - the mother of Liu's three daughters - conspired to pimp out one of their daughters, who operated under the alias of "Chen Yan". Chen Yan was to use a room rented by Liu as her base of illicit operations.

At 9 pm on March 16, Chen was reportedly bringing a client surnamed Wang to her room, the two were discovered by low-ranking patrol officers from the Wangjiaqiao police station who did not have the independent authority to make searches or arrests. The officers called police to examine the premises.

According to police, Liu Shihua saw from inside the rented room that officers were near and he discussed what to do with his friend Pu Enfu (普恩富), who was also present. Liu and Pu reportedly made Chen Yan and her older sister change clothes so that police would arrest the wrong girl.

When officers approached the rented room, Zhang Anfen charged out and hit one officer in the left eye. Liu and Pu emerged wielding a knife and a club, respectively. After a struggle between the two sides, Zhang, Liu and Pu were all brought under control and their weapons seized. After the altercation, Pu claimed that two of his ribs were broken by police while they were questioning him.

Liu, Zhang, Pu and two of Liu and Zhang's daughters and another family friend spent the night in jail and were released the next morning, according to police.

On March 20, Liu and Zhang reportedly went to the Kunming Public Security Bureau's Wuhua branch office to demand 200,000 yuan in compensation from the police. When their attempt failed, police say Liu and Zhang obtained fake hospital documents claiming their daughters were virgins, which they released to local media.

Although the police maintain that their officers did not abuse Pu or any of the others, two officers were punished and two were fired as a result of improper handling of the arrest.

A police spokesperson said that both Liu and Pu have reportedly spent time in prison for robbery.

When presented with evidence that Pu had faked injury and that Liu's hospital documents were faked, Liu and company confessed to faking both the injury and the documents, the police spokesperson said.

The spokesperson emphasized that Kunming police do not extract confessions by torturing suspects. Liu Shihua is once again under arrest and Zhang Anfen is out on bail.

The Kunming Public Security Bureau announced yesterday that an investigation team has been assembled to look into the wrongful arrests of two young girls for prostitution in March. The investigation was announced after increasing criticism of the police on the internet, much of it suggesting that the police fabricated the charges against the girls.

The two girls, Liu Fangfang, 15, and Liu Lili, 13, were arrested in front of their home in Kunming at 8:00 pm on March 16, along with their parents and two male friends. All were released the following afternoon after the Kunming Forensics Hospital examined the Liu sisters and determined that they were both virgins.

According to the Liu family's lawyer Xu Xinghua, shortly before the girls' arrest for prostitution, their parents had experienced a dispute with some local residents while working at the public toilet that they manage in the Wangjiaqiao area of the Wuhua District.

When police from the Wangjiaqiao police station were dispatched to the scene of the dispute, the Lius and the police reportedly experienced "friction", which the Lius believe offended the police station.

Afterward, police claim that a foot officer and two officers in training were propositioned by Liu Fangfang, who reportedly asked "Do you want to play?" ("要不要耍一下?"). While waiting for police from the Wangjiaqiao police station with the authority to arrest to arrive, the officer and cadets allegedly saw a man in his 30s enter an apartment with Liu.

Minutes later, police say the man left the apartment with Liu, when the foot officer identified himself and told the man to stay. According to police reports, another man emerged from the room and attacked the officer, starting a fracas in which several were injured and the Liu sisters were eventually arrested for prostitution in front of a large crowd.

Police told Kunming media that the violence against officers of the law was wrong, but also conceded that the girls were released the next day because of a lack of evidence that they were involved in illegal activities.

Liu Shihua, the girls' father, said "I suspect we're being persecuted by the police station."

Today, somewhat unexpectedly considering the date, the China Daily published an English-language commentary on the Liu sisters' "virgin prostitution", reprinting translated portions of a Chongqing Times article that takes a harsh line against the police. Here are some exerpts:


Liu sisters image: news.ifeng.com