Red Chinese Mugger Sends Victim Red Roses

I am an American expat living in Beijing, China, where I am teaching and, of course, learning. One of the first things you learn about China is that it is a web of ultimately amusing contradictions. Traditional and modern, dependable for its quirkiness, festive and serious, China is a mystery that took milennia to accumulate and takes more than one lifetime to comprehend, if you are not Chinese. Life here is a mixture of frustration and awe, humility and astonishment every single day. All that said, this one takes the dan gao.

Story filed: 12:06 Wednesday 10th December 2003

A thief in China sent his victim eleven red roses after stealing her bag.

The young woman, named only as Ma, was targeted by a man on a motorbike in the southern city of Guanzhou.

Realising her phone was still in her bag, she sent it a message asking the thief to return her identity card and boyfriend's photo.

The Southern Metropolis magazine, quoting a report in the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily, says the criminal obliged.

And he added a gift of eleven red roses which, he later telephoned the victim to say, had cost him the equivalent of $8.36 (£4.80).

A Bob Dylan line goes "to live outside the law you must be honest..." I guess there's honor among thieves, or at least this Chinese bag nabbing crackpot.