Qian Mingqi

Qian Mingqi was born in 1959 in Linchuan District, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, where he ran a business providing refrigerated coffins. In 1995, his storefronts were demolished for road widening with minimal compensation. By 2000, he incurred debts of over 500,000 yuan to construct a six-story commercial-residential building on resettlement land, holding full property certificates. In 2002, the Linchuan district government demolished this newly built house again under the pretext of the Jing-Fu Expressway, imposing collective punishment by docking salaries of relatives who were civil servants unless agreements were signed. He was given only 250,000 yuan for over 700 square metres, resulting in actual losses of over two million yuan. He later uncovered that officials had altered official documents, deleting clauses requiring proper resettlement land and pocketing demolition funds. For ten years he sued and petitioned, yet Fuzhou courts sheltered corrupt cadres and dismissed his claims. Every New Year he painted couplets on his door decrying injustice, and posted over 300 pleas on Weibo to no avail. On the morning of May 26, 2011, driven to despair, Qian set off three car explosions at the Fuzhou Procuratorate and Linchuan administrative centre, dying instantly alongside two security guards, with six injured, aged 52.