CHINA DAILY Thursday, January 10, 2019 | 7 CHINA SPIRIT OF ACTION Official learns language of ‘Magical Pen’ has gone, compassion to aid families but his spirit remains By ZHANG YANGFEI things emotionally after experienc- [email protected] ing psychological trauma. Regular home visits and attending He recalled in the CCTV interview A man in his 60s, medium height, a rape victim who had told him that important occasions help enhance and a little thin. That was all Zhang her attacker had “extremely round ties with impoverished villagers Xin needed to know when he was eyes”. Zhang had held up a coin and composing the portrait of the sus- asked her if the eyes were as round pect who caused an explosion in Lin- as the coin, and she said the rapist’s By YANG JUN in Guiyang is spread across 4,360 hectares, fen, Shanxi province, in 2014. were even rounder. and LI HONGYANG in Beijing with scattered houses and bumpy, Known as the “Magical Pen”, “That was impossible. It was defi- dangerous roads.” Zhang was a senior sergeant of nitely an exaggeration,” he said. When asked to sum up his life as As he is not native to the area, Qu criminal investigation at the Zhang was best known for sketch- a grassroots cadre tasked with is unable to speak the language Shanghai Railway Public Security ing the facial composite of Gao eradicating poverty, Qu Jia thought used by the local Sui ethnic group, Bureau and an expert in facial com- Chengyong, one of China’s most for a moment and then said it was making communication difficult. posites. Over a career of more than notorious serial killers, who mur- tough but rewarding. “Usually, a local will accompany 30 years, he helped solve more than dered 10 women and an 8-year-old Since being appointed as the Par- me and help me translate. Just a 800 cases by sketching suspects’ girl between 1988 and 2002 across ty secretary of Zilinshan, an impov- brief chat is not enough to help me faces based on vague descriptions. northern China. erished village in southwestern totally understand these families,” The bureau announced Zhang He was asked to join the investi- China’s Guizhou province, in he said. “When I’m not busy, I had died in a post on social media gation to sketch the suspect’s face in August 2017, Qu has experienced a attend the weddings and funerals on Oct 21. He was 58 years old, and 2002. A year earlier, the killer fair share of stress and success. in the village. These occasions the cause of death was given as attempted to assault a female facto- Over the past 17 months, the make it easier to talk with them extreme exhaustion. ry worker, which resulted in three 35-year-old official has come up and enhance our emotional ties.” Zhang became a police officer in witnesses: the victim, her husband, against a language barrier and The most challenging task, he 1982, and at the time painting was and a police officer who passed the struggled to get families to change said, has been persuading villagers just a hobby. He was first asked to suspect en route to the scene. their lifestyles, with some flatly to change their mindset, such as sketch a suspect portrait in 1986, Zhang later said that he had never refusing to cooperate with govern- their resistance to moving to safer which helped his colleagues solve a experienced such difficulty before, ment officials or take part in pover- housing in a nearby county and theft case. From then on, he was as a whole year had already passed ty alleviation programs. joining projects initiated by the transferred to the bureau’s criminal and their memories had faded. Yet in that time, he has managed government. technology team. “Due to the significance of the to help more than 100 impoverish- “They don’t want to move Qu Jia (right) welcomes an impoverished farmer at Zilinshan To improve his skills, Zhang took case, I had to carefully sift through ed households find ways out of pov- because they have land to cultivate village in Guizhou province joining the local forest patrol team by advantage of every minute of his each piece of information from their erty through forestry development, in the village and are worried they giving him a patrolman’s vest. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY daily train commute to and from descriptions and sort out the most resulting in him receiving an couldn’t find jobs in the county. work to sketch the facial features of useful ones,” he said. Even though award on Oct 30 from the central Some elderly people in particular the people around him. In all, he the descriptions were vague and government for his outstanding won’t resettle because they love has nothing to do with them.” Qu said he plans to invest in drew more than 10,000 sketches. subjective, Zhang said there was sci- work in poverty relief. their hometown, even if the houses To tackle traditional thinking, processing machines for sphag- He also attended art college and entific logic, such as a fat person Qu was a researcher for the they are living in are dilapidated.” Qu and his team held meetings to num to ensure people who join the spent his holidays traveling in cities cannot have a thin nose. National Forestry and Grassland For those unwilling to move, Qu persuade residents to resettle or project can make more money. and villages as well as visiting ethnic He spent three days sketching Administration based in Beijing said he would visit their homes join a project to plant sphagnum “In the fight against poverty, we communities to observe the diverse three pictures of the suspect, which before his two-year appointment to more than 10 times. So far, 67 out of moss, a plant suitable for growing must be down-to-earth and get the physical features of the locals. After provided a lead for detectives to Zilinshan. He is among nearly 85 families he has visited have in the village that can be sold at a results step by step,” he said. “We sketching tens of thousands of pic- eventually track down the murderer. 200,000 officials assigned to villa- resettled. higher price than other crops. don’t need slogans. What we need is tures for various cases, he began to After the announcement of ges nationwide by the end of 2017 “There were some villagers Li Zuyou, who works alongside hard work and responsibility, and earn a reputation. “The more chal- Zhang’s death, the bureau paid trib- to lead anti-poverty efforts. unwilling to strive for a better life Qu as the village’s long-term Party to be daring in the face of difficul- lenging the case, the more motivated ute by honoring his achievements. “The first step in my job was to through working hard,” Qu said. secretary, said that 80 percent of ties.” I become,” he told China Central Tel- “Zhang Xin fought on the front line visit impoverished families and get “There was even someone who households have joined the plant- evision in an interview. to solve crime,” it said on social to know their economic situation,” asked me to give them money ing project and each earns an aver- Li Hanyi contributed to this story. The job required Zhang to have media. “The hero has gone, but the Qu said. “This usually takes a lot of directly. I was speechless. Some age of 20,000 yuan ($2,910) a year Contact the writers at ample experience and be extremely spirit remains. May our compatriot time and energy because the village people believe that poverty relief by selling the moss. 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