One more surprise for those of us who who call Xinjiang our home here in China – apparently we live among wild boar.  What’s more, they’re actually hunted by some people in Xinjiang’s northern cities, in this case near Tacheng City.  The peculiarities of this province never cease to amaze me!

This revelation, although humorous, has made the local news for a much more somber reason.  Sentencing finally came this week for a former Xinjiang government official who accidentally mistook two watermelon growers for wild boar and shot them, killing the wife and servery wounding the husband.  He was convicted of unpremeditated manslaughter and sentenced to 4 years in jail.

I’m not sure what the punishment for a similar crime in America might be, but there’s a part of this story that keeps me from reigning down judgment on Lu or the judicial system that sentenced him.  Here is a man who, along with 6 of his good friends, went hunting in a somewhat remote part of the province like he had probably done before in the past, but this time something went wrong.

They had already shot one boar and in the excitement of searching for another they accidentally shot an unfortunate couple.  Instead of running off or covering up their tracks, they personally took both victims who were in dire need of care to the local hospital.  Compensation amounting to around $100,000 was paid to the surviving husband in September and no documented attempts to evade sentencing have been made.

That may not seem like much to you, but in an age here in China where milk has melamine and money buys silence it seems to speak highly of a man who owns up to his mistakes.  Obviously this doesn’t erase the fact that a woman’s life was taken, but the justice system here – which normally doesn’t get much good press – has worked as it should and punishment was given.

On a more personal note, if I actually do see a wild boar here in Xinjiang I will definitely let you know.  So far, nothing; but if they’re being hunted, I’m not sure I want to be around where they live anyway.

For more information on this story, check out the official story on China Daily.