Wei Wenhua (; January 3, 1967 – January 7, 2008) was the general manager of a construction company, Shuli Architectural Engineering. He was beaten to death in Wanba,

Tianmen Tianmen () is a sub-prefecture-level city (sometimes considered a county-level city) in central Hubei Province, China. It is on the Jianghan Plain, on the west side of Wuhan (the biggest city of Central China, as well as the capital of Hubei) a ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

, after attempting to film Chinese authorities clashing with villagers.

Death

The conflict which Wei attempted to film centered on a garbage dump in the village that the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...

was using, which the village government feared to be threatening to the inhabitants' lives. The Chinese media reported that Wei was beaten by a group of thirty or more Chengguan (urban management officers) when he attempted to photograph the villagers protesting (by attempting to prevent more garbage being dumped) with a

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

(it is not currently known what Wei was attempting to use the photographs for). He was beaten inside his car for five minutes and declared dead at a local hospital soon after.

Response to death

Qi Zhengjun, secretary-general of the city's government and commander of the municipal force, was fired from his position after the incident, following public outrage and government investigation into Wei's death. Twenty-four Chengguan members, as well as over one hundred other government personnel, were also questioned, and four people were detained. According to Chen Junling, Wei's brother-in-law, a protest outside Tianmen's city hall the day after Wei's death comprised thousands of people.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Wenhua 1967 births 2008 deaths 2008 in China Victims of police brutality People murdered in China Chinese murder victims Chinese business executives Businesspeople in construction Law enforcement in China Deaths by beating Scandals in China History of Hubei

Death

Response to death

See also

References