China Scene: Central

To err is human, to forgive divine

Liu Jie, 18, recently gave himself up to police for a crime he committed in 2005. School dropout Liu, together with five other suspects, severely beat up Tang Hui, his former teacher, and stole his mobile phone in April, 2005 before escaping. Liu went to a temple in Hengyang and became a novitiate monk in order to evade police arrest, while all five of his confederates were detained.

Liu had not returned home once over the past three years until a secret visit this week, when he met his teacher Tang Hui again.