Yang Xinhai: The Story of a Serial Killer in Big Shoes

It is easy to find a lot of data on serial killers from all over the world on the Internet. Of course, the most common stories are from the USA and Russia. But what about China? The question immediately arises: is there really complete order in a country with such a huge population? Of course not. The authorities of the Celestial Empire simply prefer to keep quiet about such problems. However, some cases still leak to the press, in particular, the famous story of the "Chinese monster" Yang Xinhai.

Yang Xinhai operated for only three years, from 2000 to 2003. During this short period, he committed 67 murders and 23 rapes. However, this is not an exact figure: this is how many crimes were officially proven. Apparently, some of his crimes remained a secret, taken to the grave.

He was called in the press nothing less than a "monster", because the killer acted with animal cruelty and did not spare even small children. Xinhai's crimes are truly monstrous, among them the murder of children, the rape of pregnant women, necrophilia, mass murder.

Yang Xinhai was born on July 29, 1968, in a tiny village in central China's Henan Province. He was the youngest of four children in a very poor family that barely made ends meet. The boy grew up quiet and thoughtful, did well in school, and helped his parents with their hard farming work.

As a teenager, Yang Xinhai realized that if he stayed in the village, he would repeat the fate of his parents and work in the fields all his life. So at 17, he dropped out of school and left home. The boy wandered around China, doing various unskilled jobs. They paid him little, but Xinhai, who had hardly seen money before, was happy with everything.

But one day, while living in Shaanxi Province, 20-year-old Yang committed a theft. He was arrested and sentenced to three years in a labor camp. This moment can be considered a turning point in the life of an ordinary Chinese guy. In 1991, he was again imprisoned for theft, and in 1996 he was given five years for attempted rape.

Yang Xinhai served only three years behind bars, but came out of that sentence a completely different person. Chinese prisons, like ours, do not favor rapists. It is not hard to guess what Xinhai went through during those three years. After his release, he seemed to have started a new life: he got a girlfriend and tried to settle down. True, he hid some things from his past. But his lover still found out about his convictions and eventually left him.

Some time after breaking up with his girlfriend, Yang Xinhai began his bloody murder spree. The first crime occurred on September 19, 2000, in Henan Province, where he was especially active, committing 49 murders. That night, two people died at once. After that incident, the maniac invariably followed the same plan: he would find a house where he could sneak in unnoticed, and come under cover of darkness to kill and rape.

By that time, Xinhai had a solid background in burglaries, so breaking into someone else's home was not a problem for him. The maniac sometimes raped his victims, and sometimes he simply killed and robbed them. He used knives, axes, hammers, and even shovels as weapons. Yang often had sex with corpses, and in some cases he mocked the bodies, dismembered them, and mutilated them beyond recognition.

The maniac tried to kill everyone in the house. Only a few survived, and even those were disabled for life. One day, Jan broke into a house where a family of three lived. The woman was pregnant, but this did not stop the criminal. In front of her eyes, he killed her husband and daughter, hitting them with a shovel, and raped her. She miraculously survived, but lost her child and her health.

Xinhai didn't use public transportation, but rode his bicycle everywhere. The hardy man from a farming family could ride hundreds of kilometers, turning up in the most unexpected places. The police quickly realized they were dealing with a serial killer, but there was nothing they could do.

To confuse the investigation, the maniac resorted to simple but effective tricks. For each crime, he chose new clothes and shoes. The shoes were bought a size or two larger, which is why the police mistakenly believed that they were looking for a taller person. The maniac took clothes from his victims' homes or bought used ones at markets and second-hand stores.

Yang Xinhai's bloody orgy continued until 2003. On August 8, he staged the largest massacre of his entire "career." In Hebei Province, the maniac broke into a house where five people were staying at night and killed them all. However, three months later, he was accidentally detained by the police. Xinhai was relaxing in a nightclub when law enforcement officers raided the place for a routine document check. To the surprise of law enforcement, one of the visitors was wanted in four provinces of China at once.

The maniac was able to remain free for three years due to changes in Chinese legislation. The authorities abolished hukou, the usual registration at the place of residence. They did this to make it easier for citizens to find work and to support the economy of underdeveloped regions. If the old system had continued to operate, Xinhai would not have been able to travel freely around the country, bringing death.

Xinhai was sent for a psychiatric evaluation, but it did not reveal any serious abnormalities. However, his character clearly showed irrational greed, a complete lack of compassion, and a painful pride. During interrogations, he repeatedly mentioned his ex-girlfriend. From these stories, it became obvious that the separation from her had seriously affected his mental state.

Yang Xinhai did not try to shield himself or feign insanity. He did not want to cooperate with the investigation, but if he was given evidence of his atrocities, he immediately agreed to everything. The killer himself spoke about his motives:

The investigation into the maniac's case was completed in just three months, and on February 1, 2004, the court handed down a sentence - the death penalty. The criminal still had the opportunity to appeal. True, this would not have changed the verdict, it only delayed the execution of the sentence. However, Xinhai decided not to waste time. On February 14, 2004, the "Chinese Monster" was executed. Incidentally, on the same day, but ten years earlier, another famous maniac, Andrei Chikatilo, was executed.

Yes, Yang Xinhai is a real monster, but the number of victims could have been much lower. The problem is that the Chinese authorities prefer to hide crimes in order to maintain the appearance of a stable and prosperous society. According to experts, only 2.5 percent of serious crimes become known to the population. Because of this, people did not even suspect that a maniac was operating in their area and could not take simple measures for their own safety.