2006-03-06



Hello and welcome to this edition of Frontline here on China Radio International. I’m your host, Wu Jia. Hamlet, a character in one of Shakespeare’s plays, has a famous quote: “Frailty, thy name is woman.” In March 2005, this idea was questioned in a family tragedy that occurred in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality. Zheng Ping, a local woman, took an axe and chopped her soundly sleeping husband to death in the wee hours of the night. Our reporter James West tells us the story.

Before daybreak on March 25, the harsh ringing of the telephone broke the tranquility of the early morning at a residential apartment. Awakened by the noise, an elderly lady answered the call. It was her daughter Zheng Ping.

At the end of the line, Zheng Ping choked with sobs as she told her mother that she had killed her husband at home just an hour before and was then going to kill herself. Zheng Ping’s mother was terrified. She tried every way she could to console her daughter and calm her down. Then she immediately called the police.

“I said to my daughter: don’t do anything silly. The public security department can help you. Then I called the local police station to tell them my daughter’s address for them to go stop her from committing suicide.”

The police soon rushed into Zheng Ping’s home. Li Mingqi is one of the officers who was present.

“When we reached her home, we found Zheng Peng was making preparations for her suicide. She was cooking eggs. She said she had to be full before killing herself. I could feel Zheng Peng was very afraid at that moment.”
Entering the room, even the police shuddered at what they saw.

“I went over to the bed and lifted the quilt. The body of Zheng Ping’s husband was lying motionless on the bed. His head had been crushed into fragments and his neck had been cut by a knife.”

With the coming of daybreak, the news that Zheng Ping had killed her husband spread quickly throughout the town. The news contradicted the good reputation she had with her neighbors.

“She is a virtuous and diligent woman. She does every housework task without complaint.”

The neighbors all felt shocked by what the delicate-looking Zheng Ping had done. Why did she brutally murder her husband, a man she had been living with for more than 30 years?

“The man treated me so unfairly. I devoted everything to him -- my youth, my love and my passion. But what did I get from him? There was only violence, neglect and mental collapse. I lost everything.”

Though now there is merely abysmal pain, there were some sweet memories in Zheng Ping’s mind from the time when she first met her husband. Back in 1972, the 21-year-old Zheng Ping was a locksmith in a factory in Chongqing. She met Zhang Xuezhong by an accidental chance.

“I fell in love with him at first sight. We shared a lot of common interests. So naturally we became lovers.”

The third time they met, Zhang Xuezhong went to Zheng Ping’s factory and invited her to go back to his home. Zheng Ping agreed. That night, she was raped by Zhang Xuezhong.