i somehow can relate to hhs's feeling (and those surprised bt the news) a bit: xiao is almost too perfect to be the one. to may people, xiao was the first name coming to mind when the crimes happened.

however, i can find two good resons to explain:

1. his personality.

quite unique, unlike most chinese, let alone scholars. his multiple lawsuits speak for itself. he's more like a bandit or mafia guy judged by his words and behaviors.

2. local emperors.

in nowadays china, a few biggest cities such as BJ, SH, SZ are the most advanced not just in economy but also in other fields, like execution of law and order, like society civilization and citizens' qualities (i would like to apologize to BJ police, initially i doubt their motivations).

unfortunately most other places are still quite disappointing, almost everything is decided behind closed doors and by who gets stronger support from upper officials. so created many many local emperors. before one does anything there, better cehck all the backgrounds and send out all the necessary favors and bribes. even big cities like chongiqng and wuhan are like that, let alone smaller ones.

xiao is such an emperor, though quite a small one. he had powerful connections in wuhan: a influential supervisor, good relations with the local government and court. could anyone imagine what would be if the two fangs' assualts happened in hubei or wuhan?

haiguis should also learn from this, better choose the few very big cities, otherwise try to build a good relationship with local powerfuls or just pray.