The Bloody Tragic Event in Beijing exposes a China the World do not See
-- Behind murder of American in Beijing, a tale of despair and dislocation

International Herald Tribune

Behind murder of American in Beijing, a tale of despair and dislocation

By Andrew Jacobs
Sunday, August 10, 2008

BEIJING: Tang Yongming was like countless other middle-aged, marginally
skilled men struggling to find their way in the new China. Laid off from
a meter factory in the central city of Hangzhou, Tang, 47, briefly
sustained himself as a security guard and then, two years ago, found
himself idle and living alone in a rented room with no furniture.

Friends and former co-workers said he was irritable, unmoored and unable
to find his footing in the surging Chinese economy.

But even though Tang had moments of despair and frustration, those who
knew him were at a loss to explain why he attacked a group of American
tourists Saturday, fatally stabbing a 63-year-old man and slashing two
others before leaping to his death from the balcony of the Drum Tower,
one of the best-know historic monuments in Beijing.

The dead American was Todd Bachman, a 62-year-old businessman from
Minnesota, whose son-in-law is the head coach for the men's volleyball
team. His wife, Barbara, 62, was critically injured in the assault, as
was a Chinese guide, whose name has not been made public.

The attack, coming on the first day of the Olympics, sapped the
feel-good spirit that had enveloped the capital since Friday night, when
the opening ceremony dazzled all China and the world. Although the
incident received only modest coverage in the Chinese media, it has been
widely discussed among local residents and foreign visitors, many of
whom said they were stunned that such an act of brutality could occur
amid the city's thick blanket of security.

President Hu Jintao, meeting with President George W. Bush on Sunday,
expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and said the
police would fully investigate the incident. "The Chinese side takes
this unfortunate incident very seriously," he said.

The killing has provoked hand-wringing and heated debate on the
Internet. Some people fretted that it could tarnish China's moment of
Olympic glory, while others used Tang's murderous outburst to rail
against a variety of unattended social ills: mental illness, chronic
unemployment among laid-off state workers and the rise of xenophobic
nationalism.

One widely circulated posting, written anonymously on a popular Web
site, seemed to capture the prevailing sentiment: that Tang's crime
would tarnish China's image. "Your actions have hurt not just two
Americans, but they have hurt the way Americans will view China during
the Games, the way all the people of the world will view China. The
bright dream of these momentous Olympics has been darkened by you. Tang
Yongming, even if you had ten thousand excuses, the Chinese people will
never forgive your actions."

The police have disclosed nothing about their investigation. All that is
known about Tang is that he was unemployed and that he arrived in
Beijing on Aug. 1. No one can say why he came. The only thing he left
behind, investigators said, was the government-issued identification
card in his pocket.

Tang had no criminal record, they said, nor was he among the swarms of
dispossessed and aggrieved citizens - so-called petitioners - who flock
to the capital to file official appeals to the central government.

On the outskirts of Hangzhou, where Tang spent most of his life,
neighbors and former co-workers expressed little sympathy for him,
saying he was often disgruntled and prone to unprovoked argument.

"He grumbled a great deal, very cynical," said Zhang Liping, a former
colleague. "He had an unyielding mouth."

Although their recollections were impossible to verify, Zhang and a few
others said he had more than once raised a hand against his wife, whom
he suspected of infidelity.

At the very least, they all agreed, Tang typified the many working men
cast aside by ailing state-run industries. He was angry at being left
behind by China's headlong rush into an economy that lacked the succors
of the Socialist past.

"He had a quick temper and was always complaining about society," said a
former co-worker, who would provide only his nickname, Aqing. "Usually
we avoided offending him."

Tang worked as a metal presser at the Hangzhou Meter Factory for more
than two decades. When a private company bought the plant five or six
years ago, his job was transferred to a plant elsewhere and Tang was
relegated to a less-desirable post as a guard at the factory gate. In
2004, colleagues said, he lost that job for reasons that were not clear.

In 2006, his wife, who also worked at the meter factory, divorced him.
Not long afterward, their 21-year-old son was arrested for burglary and
given a six-month sentence. Demoralized and facing destitution, Tang
sold his house and rented a room in the nearby town of Hengjie, a
once-rural enclave that has in recent years become absorbed into
Hangzhou's industrial sprawl.

Jiang Beigen, his landlord, said Tang paid $53 a month for an
unfurnished room. According to Jiang and other tenants, Tang owned only
one shirt and a single pair of pants, both of which he washed by hand at
night. He had no job, they said, and often slept late into the day.

On May 7, Tang announced he was leaving - heading to Sichuan Province on
business. Then the devastating earthquake intervened and Tang was back
in Hengjie asking for his old room.

Unlike others who described Tang harshly, Jiang said his tenant was a
polite, decent man who paid the rent on time.

Last week, when Tang announced he was leaving again, he did not say
where he was going. The police said he called his son that evening and
told him he would not be returning until he found success.

Asked if he remembered anything unusual about Tang's departure Jiang
shook his head and then paused for a moment. He did recall one thing,
however. As Tang walked away, he could not help but notice he had no
luggage. All he carried was a paper bag, he said, and even that was half
empty.

Reporting was contributed by Steven Lee Myers, with research by Dado
Derviskadic, Fan Wenxin and Zhan Yingying.