Don't make eye contact with China's armored car guards

We imagine we aren't the only people a little skeptical of the armor-clad and heavily armed guards that accompany the vehicles that transport money to and an from various banks in China. The guards are almost always very young and fresh-faced and look as though they might have, the day before, occupied a seat at a local internet bar playing Counter-Strike and urinating in an empty Coke bottle. We always try to steer clear of these guys, assuming their guns are really loaded and their trigger fingers itchy. And after reading this graphic account (in Chinese) of an incident that happened about a week ago outside a China Construction Bank in Shenyang, Liaoning province, we're sure you will do the same.

We'll summarize: A middle aged man arrived at the bank to withdraw money. He was about to leave when the armored bank truck arrived and blocked the exit. He told the guards he had an urgent matter to deal with, but the guards wouldn't let him go. An argument ensued. The guard told the man that if he moved forward, he would be shot. The middle aged man thought he was bluffing. The guard called in another guard, who promptly aimed his gun at the customer's head ... and shot him dead. And, as the detail-minded reporter helpfully points out, blood splattered on other bank patrons. The two guards have been arrested.

If that is not enough post-lunch gore for you, you may want to read about the 3-year-old girl in Nanjing who fell into a pot of boiling soup (her parent's run a small restaurant). A traffic jam delayed the family's taxi ride to a hospital and the girl died. Here's the story, also in Chinese.

Image by Daniel Schwabe.