Young women on alert amid crime reports

Many young women around China, particularly college students, are feeling vulnerable these days after a spate of murder and torture cases targeting young women have been reported in the past month.

In August alone, seven young women were reported murdered, tortured or missing around the country. Although the incidents were different, a lack of self-protection was a similar theme in many of them. In two cases, the victims accepted rides from strangers.

On August 9, Chongqing native Gao Yu, 20, was reported missing. Her mother said the family asked a friend to pick Gao up but that Gao did not know the friend and got into the wrong car.

Although Gao was aware that she had made a mistake, she didn't get out. Contact with her was lost that night. Ten days later, Gao was found dead in a wood, and the owner of the car was caught. The suspect confessed that he "had a fight" with Gao and killed her.

Another student, whom police defined only as Jin, was kidnapped by an illegal motorcycle cabbie in Ji'nan, Shandong Province, on August 21.

Jin, 22, was planning to take a train from Ji'nan to Tai'an. The suspect, whom the police defined as Dai, said he could take Jin to the station, but kidnapped her, took her to the apartment he rented, and sexually tortured her for four days.

Jin texted her friend when Dai was not watching, and later police managed to rescue her.

"In my opinion, the two cases could have been avoided beforehand," said professor Jin Cheng, a council member of the Asian Criminological Society. "Black cabbies, for instance, are typical potential crime space. While police should crack down on black cabbies, people should avoid putting themselves in a crime space."

Meanwhile, some young women are so innocent that they don't think twice about people's offer, especially when it comes from someone who looks reputable.

Recently an online reality show, "Tudou Weekend Show," performed an experiment where women were offered a lift in very fancy limos (valued at 5 million yuan, or US$813,000), to see if they would agree. Five out of seven women got onboard.