A dream come to true

HOSTAGE-RESCUE STAGED FOR WHEELCHAIR-BOUND BOY

PKG

INTRO

Residents in Xinyu City, east China's Jiangxi Province, just spent an unforgettable weekend.

Local police and residents staged a hostage-rescue mission for a wheelchair-bound boy who's battling a rare muscle disease, to help him realize the dream of being a policeman.

PKG

For nine-year-old Zou Junyi, it was not a common Saturday.

Wearing a tailored police uniform, this little "policeman" was sent to deal with a kidnap case.

There, 23-year-old policewoman Liu Jinfeng pushed Zou in his wheelchair to approach the "kidnappers" on the pretext of delivering bottled water. Liu was able to kick away the dagger in a kidnapper's hand, and catch him. The other "criminal" was also caught later by other policemen.

This simulated kidnapping scene was actually a citywide action first proposed by people online. It was jointly initiated by the publicity department of the Xinyu City Committee of the Communist Party of China and the city's public security bureau.

Before the simulation, more than 200 people had signed up, offering to play kidnappers and hostages for the boy. Finally, five of them have been selected as actors in the performance.

PSOUNDBITE (CHINESE) HU YING, Playing "Hostage":

"When I heard of the boy's dream, I was moved. So I volunteered."

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) DENG WEI, Playing "Hostage":

"I think, as a nine year old, he's incredible to have such a dream, a dream that he probably could not fulfill later on. So I believe we should help him."

Liu Yi, a policeman who played one of the kidnappers in the simulation, said he and his colleague Liu Jinfeng had rehearsed for the act many times during the past week.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) LIU YI, Policeman:

"I played kidnapper or gangster almost every time in police drills, so I've got experience. And I think it's very meaningful, so I joined in. We practiced a lot to make everything look real."

Zou, a fourth grader, was just like any other happy child in the small city in south China, until last month, when he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, and suddenly bound to a wheelchair.

The disease is a skeletal muscle disorder, which leads to muscle weakness, the death of muscle cells and tissues, and disability. Now Zou is only able to move by crawling on his knees.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) CHEN QINGMEI, Zou's mother:

"He asked me if he would die. I said no because the disease can be cured, though I really wasn't sure. My son was very brave when he did the examination -- needles were all over his body, but he didn't cry."

Both of Zou's parents are migrant workers with low incomes. The monthly income of the family only adds up to around 5 thousand yuan, or 820 U.S. dollars. They can hardly make ends meet as they have already spent 600 thousand yuan on the treatment of Zou's disease.

Though suffering from the disease, Zhou studied hard at school and made every effort to finish his homework.

His story was then spread widely on the Internet.

Internet users proposed dozens of projects to help Zou realize his dream, among which the city finally chose simulated kidnapping.

After helping subdue two "kidnappers" and save three "hostages", Zou received the award of "courageous policeman" from Mayor Cong Wenjing.

TAG

In November 2013, residents of the U.S. city of San Francisco arranged a similar event for a five-year-old boy who celebrated his win against cancer, to help him realize the dream of becoming a "Bat Kid" for a day.

We wish Zou Junyi an early recovery.