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Before 2003, China had a special law, which authorized police to detain vagrants and beggars from other provinces and repatriate them to their original domiciles.

One day in 2003, Sun Zhigang (孙志刚, 27, not vagrant or beggar) was mistakenly detained in Guangzhou, and three days later, he was beaten to death in the asylum.

This incident aroused great indignation among people across the country. Under tremendous public pressure, the government was forced to abolish this law.

A jurist said on TV that in China's thousands of years of history, Sun is the only person whose death prompts the central government to abolish a nationwide law.