In the opening of the Song dynasty classic The Washing Away of Wrongs, published in 1247 and considered the world’s earliest documentation of forensic science, author and coroner Song Ci explains that the whole point of an accurate autopsy of an unnatural death is to “xiyuan zewu,” or “wash away wrongs and oblige others.”

A marvelous look at how here in the 21st century, China's aggrieved are “carrying the corpse to protest” (抬尸抗议), and why the police are in turn employing “qiangshi” (抢尸) or “snatching the corpse。“