Shishou

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For other uses, see Shishō (disambiguation).

Shishou (Chinese: 石首; pinyin: shíshǒu) is a county-level city under the administration of the prefectural-level city Jingzhou in Hubei Province, People's Republic of China. Shishou is located in the south of the province, near its border with Hunan. The Shishou City National Baiji Reserve for Chinese river dolphins is nearby. It shares its name with a stream flowing into the Yangtze River.

[edit] Unrest

Main article: 2009 Shishou riot

In June 2009, Shishou was rocked by violent protest after a man, XuYuanGao, was found dead -supposedly due to suicide -- outside the Yong Long hotel. The hotel is owned by a relative of Shishou's mayor.^[1] Xu, 24, was the hotel's chef.^[2] Fearing a cover up, Xu's family refused to accept that his death was a suicide, and guarded his body while awaiting investigation. When police tried to forcefully remove Xu's body, local residents joined Xu's family, blocking the hotel entrance from the police. On June 19, over 40,000 local residents guarded the hotel, fighting with the police, including armed police. Confrontations between the police and residents continued outside the hotel, and on June 20, the municipal government began cutting internet connections in Shishou. On June 21, the police managed to break through the crowd and took Xu's corpse to a crematorium, apparently without giving the family the investigation it had requested..^[2]