Hu Bin? In Hangzhou, China, in May 2009,
a wealthy 20-year-old named Hu Bin was drag-racing with his Mitsubishi when he hit and fatally
injured a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The victim came from a modest background and worked as a
telecom engineer. Hu Bin was going so fast that the victim's body was hurled at least 20 yards.
Hu Bin and his wealthy friends were photographed smoking cigarettes and
laughing while waiting for police to arrive. Their disregard and insensitivity depicted
in the tabloid photos provoked public outcry and spotlighted a
case that mixed reckless behavior with a potential police cover-up.
Though the police later admitted to underestimating Hu Bin's driving speed.
They reported a meager 43-miles-per hour, which is not nearly enough to fling a body 20 yards. Hu Bin
was only sentenced to jail for three years. Drunk drivers who cause similar
damages may face the death penalty or life in prison. Further dismay arose when the man who
arrived in court for sentencing wasn't even Hu Bin but a body double instead.
“Ding Zui” Hiring a
body double to stand in for wealthy crime suspects is not uncommon in China. In fact,
the practice even has its own name –"ding zui." "Ding" means substitute, and "zui" means crime,
which translates to "substitute criminal." Though not legal, it is also not investigated by police,
probably due to bribery and coercion from wealthy offenders. Though China is a communist country
that, in theory, seeks equal socioeconomic status among its citizens, ding zui is an
example of how economic inequality stains the nation and manifests in the justice system.
China's wealthiest people can get away with murder, literally.
In 2009, a wealthy man who caused a fatal car accident hired his employee's father
to "confess" and serve out his sentence. In another incident, a man caught driving
a motorcycle without a license hired a stand-in for $8,000. Another time, a demolition company
owner who illegally demolished a home hired a poor man to serve as his body double in jail
and promised $31 for each day he spent behind bars. The poorest of the poor are often willing
to suffer consequences on behalf of the wealthy as a way to honor their family and escape poverty.
Beijing Billionaires According to the 2021 Forbes annual rich list,
Beijing, the capital of China, now has the most billionaires compared to every other city
in the world. Between 2020 and 2021, the city added 33 more billionaires to its population,
with a running total of 100 and growing. New York City had housed the most billionaires for
the past seven years and narrowly lost with 99 billionaires compared to Beijing's 100. China
added 210 billionaires total to its population last year, including Hong Kong and Macao.
Nearly half of these individuals made their money in the technology sector, which grew
exponentially out of the pandemic. Compared to western countries, China could contain
the spread of Covid-19 relatively quickly, with government-mandated lockdowns that forced people
to go online for shopping and entertainment. As a result, tech giants infinitely increased their
reach and wealth. Beijing's wealthiest man in 2021 was Zhang Yiming, the founder of Tik-Tok and CEO
of its parent company, ByteDance, with a net worth of $35.6. billion. The gap between the richest
rich and the poorest poor continues to grow. While protesters in the U.S. target the wealthiest
1%, China's wealthiest .01% controls nearly half of the country's capital.
This upper tier of China's richest citizens is mostly the children and relatives of China's past
rulers and dynasties. Now, they collaborate to pool all wealth and power amongst themselves
in an increasingly concentrated portion of the population. They have also been known to coerce
police into shockingly short jail sentences. China is known for its limitation of free speech. Still,
as this corruption continues to make headlines, lower-class citizens seem
more willing to sacrifice their honor and status to decry the unfairness and inequality.
Body Doubles For as long as westerners have
been going to China, they have reported this body-double phenomenon. Various missionaries,
scholars, and travelers noticed it as an oddity of the country's legal system,
which has continued into the present. In 1848, the going rate for a "substitute" was 17 pounds
or about $2,000 U.S. dollars in today's economy. Criminals would have to wear cangue, a device used
for public humiliation. It was a large square of paneled wood that had a hole in the middle
for an individual's head. It was often paired with a chain around the person's neck to keep
them from moving from their spot. The cangue restricted people's movements to such an extent
that it caused some to starve because they couldn't feed themselves. In 1895,
George McKay, a missionary to Taiwan, witnessed the body doubles and the wrongful mistreatment
they went through. He said it was an open secret that these men had nothing to do with the case but
were bribed to wear the cangue for six weeks. In 1899, a scholar of Chinese criminal law
said that the courts openly allowed offenders to hire substitutes and that
this practice would likely continue for the foreseeable future. He was right.
Leg Up The wealthy can even hire stand-ins
for capital punishments. They would be promised food and wealth for their starving families
in exchange for taking on another person’s crime. It was viewed as highly honorable to
sacrifice oneself for their family's prosperity. Sacrifice was seen as a lesser evil than poverty.
Some Chinese law officials even justified the practice, arguing that the real criminal
was responsible for paying a hefty fee to the substitute and thus paid the market value for his
crime. In turn, the stand-in's punishment would serve as a warning for other criminals and thus
keep the crime rate low. Others argued that it simply encouraged the wealthy to engage in crime.
Under this pretense, they could get away with it by hiring a poor person to face the consequences.
All in the Family China has a long history
with these body doubles. In an interview with Slate, one Chinese police officer admitted to the
existence of "replacement convicts," saying that while law presides over wrongdoing in America,
the people preside over crime in China. Therefore, the people hold the power to dole out punishment.
When the wealthiest are in charge and the offenders, justice is rarely served.
This practice of stand-in suspects has long taken place for China's mafia when
mafia bosses would get caught, and their subordinates would serve time on their
behalf. The substitute convict would be compensated for their time served,
with money and the knowledge that the mafia was looking out for their family.
The practice of ding zui even occurs among the non-wealthy, especially in vehicle accidents,
when the driver escapes the scene before being identified. Therefore, anyone can stand in as
the suspect. In one case in which a drunk driver hit an older man, the driver's son confessed to
the crime to prevent the police from testing his father's blood-alcohol levels. In another case
in which the deputy director of Xuchang Forestry Bureau was involved in a hit-and-run, he sent his
wife to confess to the crime to avoid risking his career. To minimize the sentence, the suspect is
sometimes swapped for a more sympathetic person, perhaps a family member or friend who is younger,
sober, licensed, and insured. But in the digital age, when photos of
the suspect are quickly snapped and circulated, more believable body doubles need to be hired,
thus allowing these replacement convicts to become exclusive among China's very rich.
Class Disparity Known for its extreme communism,
China also veers towards capitalism in surprising ways. It is a newly industrialized country with a
growing GDP powered by its vast exports. But as the country's wealth increases,
so does its rural-urban income disparity. The National Bureau of Statistics of China
reports urbanites earning 3.33 times more than their farming counterparts. In 2014,
the disparity became severe when 1% of the population officially owned more than 1/3 of
the country's wealth. It has since gotten worse, with .01% of the population owning
more than half of the country's wealth. The inequality present in China is due to
various factors, including policies biased towards urban and coastal environments,
unequal access to education, and demographic changes as the older population passes away
and the effects of the one-child policy of 1979 linger. Economists warn that unless the government
acts, these disparities will continue to grow and could even threaten the nation's stability.
Getting Away In 2012, Gu Kailai, a Chinese businesswoman,
lawyer, and wife of a prominent Chinese politician, was convicted for the death of British
businessman Neil Heywood. She became involved in a national scandal when her husband's deputy,
Wang Lijun, sought refuge at the U.S. office in Chengdu, China. Supposedly, Wang possessed
evidence of a corruption case where Gu's husband attempted to halt an investigation against her.
Wang stated that this case had to do with a business dispute. British businessman Neil Heywood
demanded $22 million from Gu after a failed business venture and even threatened her son.
Heywood was later found unresponsive under mysterious circumstances. Wang alleged that Gu got
him drunk on whiskey and tea, then poured animal poison in his mouth. She placed pills next to him
to look like an overdose. Investigators opened a case into Gu. As a result, her husband lost his
prominent position in the Communist party. In 2012, Gu was officially charged with the
passing of Heywood and publicly admitted wrongdoing. She received a suspended life
sentence, which was commuted to life in prison after two years. She did not contest the charges.
However, after media footage of the trial was released, intense public outcry ensued,
with people alleging that the woman in the video was not Gu at all—it was a body double.
This was emphasized by her political ties, as the wife of a corrupt Chinese politician
known for embezzlement and bribery. The Chinese government attempted to censor such content,
which raised more suspicion from the U.K and U.S. The Chinese Communist party and
facial recognition experts argued that Gu was the woman who stood trial,
but the prominent practice of ding zui in China means that these promises are not guaranteed.
Walking Free This brings us back to the case
of Hu Bin, the rich 20-year-old man who took someone's life while drag-racing in
his Mitsubishi. While someone convicted of manslaughter may face life imprisonment,
Hu Bin only got three years in jail. If this was "Hu Bin" at all. Comparison photos between the
court case and the crime scene show two "suspects" that look markedly different from one another.
The photos show two men who have vastly different physical and facial features,
including body weight and distance between the eyebrows. An Internet survey showed that 98.5%
of people believed Hu Bin hired a body double. Judicial authorities countered, arguing that Hu
Bin's family only possessed moderate wealth and could not have afforded a stand-in.
2012 was the end of Hu Bin's three year-sentence. Someone walked out of that prison a free man,
but whether it was really Hu Bin—the world may never know.
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