[3] Yang, a jobless 28-year-old Beijing resident[4] described as a loner,[5] was reported to have been arrested and interrogated by the Shanghai police in October 2007 for riding an unregistered bicycle.

Besides the knife and molotov cocktails, Yang carried with him a hammer, a dust mask and tear gas spray.

[4] Four days later, the official news agency Xinhua announced that he had been found guilty of premeditated murder and received a death sentence,[13] as had previously been expected.

The Beijing News pointed out that Yang's appointed lawyer, Xie Youming, might have had a conflict of interest as he is also a legal adviser for the city district that oversees the police station at issue.

[11] Southern Weekend published a long, sympathetic front-page story,[11] while other Chinese papers hinted that Yang was wronged and demanded a fair trial.

According to Agence France-Presse, about a dozen protesters wearing T-shirts with Yang's face showed up and were arrested by police.

"[5] Pan Gu (盤古樂隊), an underground Chinese rock band now in exile, released a five-song album named after Yang Jia, The Knife of My Home Country (故鄉的刀).