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September 25th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
He claimed it was in self-defence, but he was convicted of double murder and
given a suspended death sentence.
In China, the chengguan are notorious for their brutality. Earlier this year
they beat a watermelon seller to death in Hunan province.
In Mr Xia’s case, the public were quick to sympathise, despite his conviction,
seeing him as another victim of chengguan violence. A campaign soon began to
reverse his sentence.
By Tuesday night, however, the authorities had decided to execute him. In a
series of heartbreaking tweets, his wife, Zhang Jing, chronicled her pain.
A painting by their 13-year-old son, Xia Jianqiang, showing him climbing on
his father’s back, also quickly went viral.
“Why do they have to do this to us. What can I do, I am so scared. Please
help me. Please give Xia Junfeng a chance and some hope to me and my son,”
Mrs Zhang tweeted at 9.13pm on Tuesday night.
“Tonight is the third time in four years I am on the verge of breaking
down. I swear I will not cry. I will let my husband leave in peace.”
At 1.35am, she tweeted again that she was still awake, afraid that her crying
would wake the couple’s son.
By 6am on Wednesday morning, officials had sent a car for her to visit her
husband. “I am crazy, I am about to leave,” she tweeted.
In the midmorning she told the now huge number of supporters watching her
tweets that a request for a family photograph with Mr Xia had been turned
down flatly.
“He begged for them to take a photo of us and they refused. He begged for
a photo of him to give to us, but they refused. Why must you be so brutal?
Can’t you let my son have a picture of him?”
Shortly afterwards, Mr Xia was executed and his remains cremated, prompting a
flow of outrage over Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
“Mighty, glorious, always-correct Communist party, 30 times I —- you,”
wrote Ye Jing, a professor at the China University of Political Science.
“I am no legal expert, but I know a simple rule: If Gu Kailai can be
spared of her life for a premeditated murder, then Xia Junfeng should not
die,” said Yao Bo, a former columnist in the state media, comparing Mr
Xia’s case to that of Bo Xilai’s wife.
“Justice is dead,” wrote Yi Chen, an author, adding: “His life
and death are more than just a legal matter, but a bellwether of the era,
with the tsunami-like public opinion firmly on the side of Xia Junfeng.”
Meng Fei, a television anchor at Jiangsu Television with 32 million followers
on Weibo, posted a picture of a candle next to Mr Xia’s name.
There was no response to the outrage from Chinese officials, but Mrs Zhang
left one final tweet acknowledging the support. “I told my husband this
morning that many people are seeing him off. May he have peace.”
Additional reporting by Adam Wu
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