Stepping into Wang Xuemei's office unprepared can be a real surprise. An actual skeleton stands next to her desk, with its mouth open wide and gaping spaces where there once were eyes. But Wang says of the corpse, 'this is my god', according to an interview with Wang on Xinhuanet.com.

Video grab of Wang talking with the interviewer (not shown in the photo) in her office with an actual skeleton standing beside her during the interview. [Xinhua]

Wang is a pathologist. As one of the nation's first forensic post-graduates, Wang is now one of the top coroners in the Supreme Procuratorate. She has autopsied over 600 corpses and explained their deaths to the public.

"I have the skeleton in my office to encourage me. Look, its eyes are staring at me. It doesn't allow me to make mistakes," Wang says.

Wang was just a newcomer to the Supreme People's Procuratorate when her forensic report sentenced a police officer to three years in prison.

The officer was accused of torturing a suspect to death while trying to elicit a confession. Wang dissected the body and disproved the officer's claims that the suspect died of disease.

The local public security authority tried to get Wang to sit on the report, on the grounds that the officer involved was an excellent policeman. Wang refused.

"That is my job," Wang says. "My job is to give objective explanations for deaths. I must be responsible to the corpses - they are my gods."

The cover of "The Journal of a Female Coroner" written by Wang Xuemei based on her own working experience.

"I am a coroner. The job allows no mercy in fulfilling my responsibilities. If I did that, the job would be meaningless," Wang says.

For most people, corpses are terrifying. But Wang's job is to communicate with the corpses, which are often full of terrible smells of blood, excrement and rot. "But my nerves tingle at the smells and I can't wait to talk with the corpses," she says.

One might think Wang has a stomach of steel to deal with flesh and blood. "No, not really," Wang smiles. She wrote in her biography that she is even scared of cutting pork at home. When asked why, she says "the bloody pork makes me so sick."

When Wang was a forensics student, she was working on a corpse with her teacher late one night when the power suddenly went out. As Wang made her way through the complete darkness to leave she tripped over a frozen corpse and fell onto it.

"I told myself to be strong and not to be afraid. The person was dead and I am still alive. The living don't fear the dead," Wang says.

As China's most authoritative voice in forensics, Wang is responsible for reviewing cases where the cause of death is in question. She even overrules her teachers' expertise if she thinks she is right.

When asked if she is superior to other coroners, Wang shakes her head.

"I am just lucky enough to work in the Supreme People's Procuratorate, where I am able to access others' experience and learn from their lessons as much as possible. My reputation is built on others' failures and faults," she says.