Student who sent death threats to blogger for exposing hotels identified

The internet user who sent death threats to a blogger after he exposed shoddy, unhygienic cleaning practices at luxury hotels across China has been identified by police, news website The Paper reported Tuesday.

Wu Dong posted a series of videos online on Nov 14 that showed employees at 14 hotels cleaning drinking glasses with soiled towels or cloths used to wipe toilets.

He began receiving threatening messages on social media on Dec 15, including posts reading "I will kill you" and "Go die".

On Tuesday, police identified the culprit as a university sophomore student surnamed Chen from Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Zhou Zhaocheng, Wu's lawyer, told The Paper that police believe Chen may have interned at one of the hotels, which is why he made the online threats. Police said Chen has confessed to sending the messages.

As a criminal record could affect the student's future, Wu had accepted Chen's apology and decided not to press charges, Zhou said.

However, on Monday, Chen wrote on Sina Weibo pretending to be a poor 17-year-old girl student from a small city, complained about being pushed around and asked netizens to help stop the harassment.

In response, Wu said he would hold onto the evidence and retains the right to take legal action, according to The Paper, which said Chen has since deleted all his posts on Sina Weibo.

Xie Jianing contributed to this story.