Fang Zhouzi Attacked near his Residence in Beijing

The shocking news first came in the form of an entry on a Chinese micro-blogging site: "I am the wife of Fang Zhouzi, I am publishing this for him. Just now, Fang Zhouzi was attacked by two hooligans with pepper spray and hammer near our home in Beijing. He suffered minor injuries." Fang Zhouzi's wife further appealed for police to launch a speedy investigation.

The twitter-like message immediately spread all over Chinese web site with thousands of netters relaying and rebroadcasting it. Many expressed shock and sympathy. At least one official radio media in China has picked up the story.

Later, Fang Zhouzi wrote his own recollection of the event:

At 3pm of August 29, I met with two reporters from the Liaoning Satellite TV near my residence in Beijing and we went into a tea house nearby to do an interview. It was the same tea house which had been described in detail by the Chinese Entrepreneurs magazine [edit: during a previous interview]. The interview completed at around 5pm. I saw the two reporters off by a taxi. Just as I turned around and walked a couple of steps, a man suddenly came to my face and sprayed some misty material. It had acute smell, I felt dizzy and weakness in my legs and almost fainted. I immediately held my breath and ran across street. Another man came chasing me from behind with a hammer aimed at my head. I ran as fast I could, the man could not chase up to me. He then threw the hammer at me twice. The first time he was aiming at my head, it missed. I heard the sound of hammer falling into the ground and looked back. He picked up the hammer and threw it at me again. This time it hit on my waist area and blood came out there. I ran a couple of hundred meters and the guy stopped chasing. I called for emergency as soon as I reached our subdivision. Police came very fast and went about to look for eye witnesses. After interviewing with police, I went to a hospital nearby for an exam. Except for a couple of scratches near my waist, my body appeared to be fine.

I first thought the misty substance used by the hooligan was pepper spray. But after discussing with medical expert, new I think it is a kind of anesthesia with ether in it. I had used ether in labs before and it smelled similar. Their plan was to have one guy make me faint and another murder me with the hammer. Maybe they had learned the lesson from a previous failed attack to reporter Fang Xuanchang. It was fortunate that I reacted quickly, ran fast, and got away.

I have no personal enemies. This is obviously an attempt of someone who was exposed by me seeking revenge. They had scouted the area near my residence and waited for long and finally got this opportunity to attack. I could not speculate who was behind this. I have given the police all the hints I am aware of. This case is now being handled by the Shijingshang police station. The head of the station has called several times and appear to be diligent on the case. I hope they could find the attacker soon, as well as those who attacked Fang Xuanchang.