Qian Renfeng (钱仁风) was born on October 23, 1984; she was seventeen years old when she was arrested and thirty-one years old when she was acquitted.

On February 22, 2002, three children at Xingrui Kindergarten started vomiting after lunch and were sent to a local hospital. Two children eventually recovered; the third, a 2-year-old, died from poison. Forensic exams found tetramine in the three children’s stomachs and in the food in the kindergarten’s kitchen. Qian Renfeng (Qian) was working as a nanny and was in charge of serving food to the children at the kindergarten. She served the children lunch on the day of the incident. The father of the kindergarten owner, Zhu Mei (Zhu), reported the incident to the local police.
When asked who might hold a grudge against the kindergarten, Zhu told the police that two young men surnamed Luo and Xie, respectively, had pursued Zhu, but both had been turned down. They then burgled Zhu’s residence three times, and both subsequently were convicted but received probation. Zhu told the police that both men hated her very much.
Luo and Xie were released on January 14, 2002. Between then and February 22, 2002, Zhu’s residence was set on fire three times. Luo’s father had been the head of the Qiaojia Police Bureau.

On February 25, 2002, Qian was placed in residential surveillance, a criminal compulsory measure.
On March 11, 2002, Qian was placed in criminal detention.
On March 25, 2002, Qian was formally arrested.
On July 22, 2002, Qian was indicted on the charge of disseminating hazardous substances by the Zhaotong City People’s Procuratorate (City Procuratorate).
On September 3, 2002, the Zhaotong Intermediate People’s Court (Intermediate Court) convicted and sentenced Qian to life imprisonment.
On December 5, 2002, the Yunnan Provincial High People’s Court (High Court) sustained the lower court’s ruling upon Qian’s appeal. Qian was sent to prison to serve her time.
On December 16, 2011, the High Court declined to reopen the case upon Qian’s petition.
On July 29, 2013, the Yunnan Provincial People’s Procuratorate (Provincial Procuratorate) launched a post-conviction review of this case.
On May 12, 2014, the Provincial Procuratorate issued a prosecutorial recommendation to the High Court for a new trial on the basis of unclear facts and insufficient evidence.
On May 4, 2015, the High Court decided to reopen the case for retrial.
On September 29, 2015, the High Court conducted a public trial.
On December 15, 2015, the High Court acquitted Qian.
On December 21, 2015, Qian was released from prison.

Qian kept petitioning for her innocence while serving her time. After eight years in prison, Qian still insisted that she had not committed the crime. When legal aid lawyers went to Qian’s prison to provide free legal education to prisoners, Qian cried hysterically. Her unusual behavior caught legal aid lawyer Yang Zhu’s attention. Yang started to represent Qian in the process of petitioning for retrial.
Yang Zhu helped her file criminal complaints to courts, prosecutors’ offices, and other government agencies at the central and local levels.
After many failed attempts to secure a retrial of the case, Qian’s defense lawyer publicized the case on several popular Chinese online forums. The case caught the attention of a staff member at the Provincial Procuratorate New Media Office, who reported the case to leadership. The Provincial Procuratorate stepped in.

Forced confession
- Qian did not confess until she was interrogated by the police for 12 consecutive hours. She said the police forced her to kneel for seven to eight hours and beat her face with a leather shoe. She recanted her confessions in trials.
Problematic police investigation
- The police did not question the two men whom Zhu thought had a motive to damage her business.
- Instead, the police investigation went after Qian, with whom Zhu said she had good relations. Zhu said she had just raised Qian’s salary by fifteen percent to recognize her hard work. The police forced Qian to say that she committed the crime because she was angry with Zhu, who had yelled at her the day of the incident.
- The police forged Qian’s signatures on three inculpatory statements and two written records where Qian identified the tools she used in the kitchen.
- The tetramine the police found in a plastic bottle was allegedly purchased from Qian Renzhong. However, Qian Renzhong said that he had sold tetramine only in glass bottles.
- The police could not show the chain of custody when the alleged tetramine was collected. In addition, they did not record anyone as a witness to the evidence-gathering process.
- The police did not find Qian’s fingerprints on physical evidence.

Qian Renfeng Poison Case 钱仁风投毒案