Top Chinese forensics expert Wang Xuemei sent waves rippling through China-watching circles this week when she published a blog post casting doubt on the official story in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood by the wife of fallen Communist Party heavyweight Bo Xilai.  According to the state-run media narrative, Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, poisoned Mr. Heywood with cyanide after he vomited from excessive alcohol and asked for a drink of water. In her blog post, which has since been removed by someone other than her without explanation, Ms. Wang argued that authorities hadn’t presented enough evidence to prove that Mr. Heywood had died from cyanide poisoning.  Ms. Wang has been widely celebrated in Chinese state media as one of the few women to do forensics work for the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the country’s top body for investigation and prosecution.  One might expect any Chinese citizen who had stuck their finger directly into Beijing’s eye (on the eve of a once-a-decade leadership transition, no less) to go into hiding. Perhaps banking on celebrity to keep her safe, Ms. Wang has instead published another defiantly worded blog post that attempts to answer the questions unleashed by her challenging of the Heywood murder story.  Excerpts from the post, published Friday morning, translated by China Real Time:  Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my position in life? What is the value of my life? These are questions I’ve pondered often in my more than 50 years of living.  Ever since I raised serious doubts about the cause of Neil Heywood’s death, my identity and my background have become of interest to some people. To those who wonder, I offer this honest answer:  I am a child of nature. I am a small cell in a big universe. I come from nature and my role in life is to serve as a functional cell in the body of Mother Earth. The value of my life consists in going with the flow to fulfill the sacred mission given to me by nature as a part of human society.  As a forensics examiner in the supreme legal supervisory body of a great country that accounts for one-fifth of the world’s population, my life’s value at this point in time consists in resolutely examining and raising questions about possibly incorrect causes of death that fall within the scope of my official duties. It consists in snuffing out human errors that could result in disastrous desecration of the souls of dead men and in being a sanitation worker who does her utmost to quickly clean away the spiritual trash that pollutes people’s hearts and sullies social morals.  …No individual, no group, no organization can use me, Wang Xuemei, to speak the lies they want to speak or commit the sins they want to commit, because I’m a professional who is deeply loyal to the souls of the dead and who acts in accordance with what Heaven decrees.  Responses to Ms. Wang’s statement of purpose from Chinese Internet users were almost universally positive – a rare feat in a space notorious for its cynicism.  “Speaking true words, doing true deeds, living a true life. Teacher Wang, I support you with all my heart,” one typically gushing reader wrote in the comments under the post.  “Respect to the most principled and beautiful forensics examiner!” wrote one user of Sina Corp.’s Weibo micrblogging service, where support for Ms. Wang was equally effusive.  Interestingly, where China’s Internet users are often in the habit of warning the outspoken to beware the authorities, few so far have seemed inclined to urge caution on Ms. Wang. Maybe that’s because she’s one of those rare Chinese individuals beloved enough to be able to speak their minds, or maybe it’s because she’s doesn’t seem like the type to listen to warnings. Or perhaps it’s a combination of both.  – Josh Chin. Follow him on Twitter @joshchin  Like China Real Time on Facebook for the latest updates.
A top Chinese forensics expert who challenged the official story behind the murder of Briton Neil Heywood in a blog post on Wednesday published another defiant blog post on Friday that has won near universal praise online.