A man who exposed in 2012 the excesses of a Zhengzhou official which led to a 25-year jail term for the official is in serious condition after unidentified people reportedly attacked him on Tuesday.
The attack on Yang Yanfang has drawn speculation of possible retaliation by people related to Zhai Zhenfeng, the former official with the housing authority of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, who was sentenced to jail for bribery and embezzlement of public funds. But police told the Nandu Daily Thursday that Yang was beaten because of a dispute with employees of Yang's media research firm, and was not related to his exposé.
Yang, editor-in-chief of the Daxiang Yuqing Research Center of the Daxiang Merged Media Company in Henan Province, was allegedly attacked by four men near his company after he left his office on Tuesday.
He was rushed to the hospital and remains unconscious from serious head injuries.
Yang's family told the Global Times on Thursday that Yang is in critical condition.
In December 2012, Yang revealed online that Zhai's daughter owned 11 government-subsidized apartments. The news immediately went viral. Zhai was arrested on January 13, 2013, and Zhai's family was found to have owned 29 apartments. Authorities said Zhai also embezzled more than 36 million yuan ($5.67 million) in public funds.
The Zhengzhou Public Security Bureau said on its official Weibo on Thursday that Yang's case is now under investigation.
A source with the bureau told the Nandu Daily the incident involved a dispute with co-workers, not retaliation for Yang's expose.
The Beijing News reported that Yang was having problems with a dozen of his company's employees over salaries, who accused Yang of not paying them.
Yang's family, however, said Yang had received a threat on the phone in July.
"It was July 20, Yang told us not to go out often and should not open the door to strangers. We believe that it was very likely he had received a threat, resulting in the attack," he said.
Yang has worked in several media companies, including the Dahe Daily, Zhengzhou Evening News and Hong Kong's Sing Pao newspaper.
