If an ATM shortchanges you, spits out something other than money or misdirects a transfer, it's always the customer's fault, complained online user "ifzhangwei" on Tianya Club, a social networking site. "Never let a bank suffer a cent of loss, otherwise it will sue you. If you're lucky, you'll go bankrupt, if not, beheaded."
China's love-hate relationship with the ATM is a relatively short one. The first machine was installed in southern Guangdong province by the Bank of China in 1986, a few miles down the road from Xu Ting's fateful experience. But ATMs didn't gain widespread use here until almost 2000.
China is now one of the world's fastest-growing ATM markets, with approximately 120,000 of the world's 1.7 million machines, according to London-based analyst Retail Banking Research. That compares with about 408,000 in the U.S.
While growing frustration with banking services and ATMs appears widespread, perhaps most worrisome for Beijing are the awkward questions being raised about justice in this nominally socialist society. Internet users were quick to compare Xu's life sentence to the often lenient penalties given to officials on the take, a contrast that doesn't thrill the Communist Party.
"Compared with Xu Ting, the corrupt officials deserve a thousand deaths," said an anonymous comment on Tianya Club. "China's judicial system allows officials to set a fire while forbidding ordinary people to light a lamp."
Every few years, China has a case in which public outrage prompts the government to reverse course, leading to social change.
In 2003, migrant worker Sun Zhigang was beaten to death by police; the outcry resulted in fewer restrictions on people moving within the country. In 2005, She Xianglin was found innocent after 11 years in jail on a murder conviction, spurring death penalty reform. Xu Ting's lawyers hope his case can help bring more common sense to China's theft statutes.
The judiciary has defended its decision even with the retrial. "Xu Ting's case is totally in line with the judicial procedure," said Lu Botao, chief of the Guangdong Supreme Court. "People shouldn't get too emotional."
Xu Ting, who grew up in Linfen, a small city in northern Shanxi province, has adapted to his life in prison, according to his lawyer, but is hopeful for a reduced sentence.
Xu studied marketing at a two-year college before dropping out to become a motorcycle salesman. He moved to Guangzhou and was working as a security guard until that day in April 2006 when he discovered the defective ATM.
