Li Gang Incident
On the evening of Oct. 16, 2010, a Volkswagen sedan raced onto a street near a grocery store on the campus of Hebei University. Two girls were skating on the narrow lane. The car didn’t slow down, sending one flying (who later died at the hospital) and leaving the other with a fractured left leg. The car did not stop and headed to a dormitory, where the driver picked up his girlfriend, leaving behind a pool of blood.
Security guards tried to stop the driver when the car raced back down the lane. But the driver, who was intoxicated, shouted, “Sue me if you dare, my father is Li Gang!” The incidence was soon circulated on the online community, and the outraged public started to search for the driver. Finally, his name came out as Li Qiming, a 22-year-old college student from Hebei Institute of Media, whose father is Li Gang, deputy police chief of the Beishi District of Baoding, Hebei Province, where the university is located.
A few days later, angry comments flooded online forums, as well as sarcastic poems incorporating the sentence, “My father is Li Gang.” The phrase has since become a popular catchphrase as people adopted the sentence in their ironic lyrics and speeches when referring to someone trying to avoid responsibilities. On On Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, the father and son accepted interviews with CCTV, where they apologized and wept in remorse. But their tears won no sympathy from the public, who still raged at their previous arrogance and regarded the interview just for show. Li Qiming has been arrested and his case is pending.
