October 20, 2009
Update: The China News Service reports that three of the escaped convicts were captured in a raid that left one dead, and a police officer and one hostage injured.
The top headline in today’s Nanjing-based Modern Express reports that police have offered a total of 120,000 in reward money for information leading to the recapture of four convicts who escaped from a prison in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia on Saturday.
The four men killed one police officer during their escape, and are currently the focus of a manhunt involving more than 6,000 security personnel. They mugged a woman for 700 yuan, so authorities believe they won’t be able to get very far.
Two of the men were in prison on death sentences with a two-year reprieve; there is a class A warrant out for them, which brings a reward of 50,000 yuan apiece. Information on the other two men, who were serving life sentences, brings 10,000 apiece.
The unrelated front-page photo shows a women wearing a face mask against the chilly weather. According to the caption, the low this morning was just 10 degrees, but temperatures will rise fifteen degrees during the daytime. “The Express reminds you to adjust your clothing so as not to catch cold.”
However, the Yangtse Evening Post, the Modern Express‘s sister paper under the Xinhua Daily Newspaper Group, had a different explanation for its face-mask photo: a 20-day dry spell has left the air in the city particularly dry. “Many city residents are wearing face masks to keep the skin on their face from drying out.”
Whatever the reason, it looks like autumn has arrived in Nanjing.
- China Daily: Prison escapees still on run
- Earlier on Danwei: Scarves in Hangzhou