The front page of the Jinan Times (济南晚报) in Shandong today carries the gruesome tale of an attack by a retired but disgruntled former employee on a board meeting at a water supply company in Shaoyang (邵阳市) in Hunan province.
Just after 10 am yesterday morning, when the company’s Party leadership committee was having a meeting on the sixth floor of a company building, a retired former female employee of the company, Shi Mou (石某), suddenly burst into the room and started spilling gasoline all over the room and igniting it. In the ensuing fire, three people were burnt to death and four were injured. Among the killed and injured were the company manager, the company Party secretary and deputy secretary, and the deputy manager of operations. The suspect herself tried to commit suicide – not by burning like her victims, but by jumping from the sixth floor of the building. Her suicide attempt failed, however, and she is reportedly currently receiving treatment in hospital under police custody (although according to a Weibo post she may already have died in hospital).
So why did this woman decide to commit this heinous act? At this point there is no definite answer. There is some speculation that her anger may have had something to do with the company only offering one of her two kids a job, but there is clearly much more to this story.
A few other interesting front pages from around China today:
The front page of the Beijing Morning Post (北京娱乐信报) reports on a new government proposal to halt the practice of tourism companies forcing tour groups to go to pre-determined shopping locations. Tour guides who keep doing this could be fined as much as 30 thousand yuan. While the front page of the Jingling Evening News (金陵晚报）reports that the average waist measurement of Chinese men have grown by 12 millimetres in the last 30 years.
Links and sources
Jinan Times (戾气何来)
Beijing Morning Post (强迫购物旅行社将被停业)
Jingling Evening News (中国男人的腰围 30年粗了12厘米)