Writing – research - China

In much of my fiction set abroad, I tend to use places I’ve visited; not exclusively, simply because of course I haven’t earned enough royalties from my writing to afford it; besides, the world’s a big place.

The closest I’ve been to China is Hong Kong, visiting there while in the Royal Navy in 1968, long before it was handed over by the UK in 1997. It’s a fascinating country, with a rich history. Yes, there are human rights issues and a whole lot besides, but we in the West would be foolish to ignore this powerhouse.

Foolishly – or bravely – it depends on your point of view, I decided that in my third book in the ‘Avenging Cat’ series, Cataclysm, Catherine Vibrissae would go to Shanghai to face down her arch foe, Loup Malefice, since that’s where he was at the end of the second book, Catacomb.

Shanghai skyline - Wikipedia commons

Now, if you’re familiar with Cat, as opposed to having a familiar that is a cat, then you’ll know that she tends to bend the law in her obsessive vendetta against Malefice and his company Cerberus. However, her law ‘bending’ could land her in very hot water in China, I found. The list of capital offences (death penalty imposed) is quite lengthy, and probably has a serious deterrent effect on villainous goings-on.

In the extensive list of capital crimes, seven figure in Cataclysm – not all perpetrated by Cat, I might add!

For interest, here’s the list (thanks to Wikipedia), with the Cataclysm offences in bold:

Crimes against National Security

1. Treason
2. Separatism
3. Armed rebellion, rioting
4. Collaborating with the enemy
5. Spying or espionage
6. Selling state secrets
7. Providing material support to the enemy

Crimes against Public Security

8. Arson
9. Flooding (e.g., breaching dams, dikes or waterways)
10. Bombing
11. Spreading poisons
12. Spreading hazardous substances (e.g., radioactive, toxic, pathogenic)
13. Seriously endangering public safety, broadly construed
14. Sabotaging electricity
15. Sabotaging gas, fuel, petroleum, or other flammables or explosives
16. Hijacking aircraft
17. Illegal possession, transport, smuggling, or selling of explosives or firearms
18. Trafficking or smuggling nuclear materials
19. Illegally manufacturing, selling, transporting or storing hazardous materials
20. Theft of explosives or other dangerous material
21. Theft of firearms, ammunition or other dangerous material

Economic crimes

22. Production or sale of counterfeit medicine
23. Production or sale of hazardous food products
24. Smuggling weapons or ammunition
25. Smuggling nuclear material
26. Smuggling counterfeit money
27. Producing counterfeit money
28. Fraud

Crimes against the person

29. Intentional homicide
30. Intentional assault
31. Rape
32. Kidnapping
33. Human trafficking

Crimes against property

34. Robbery

Crimes against public order

35. Prison escape, jailbreaking
36. Raiding a prison
37. Smuggling, dealing, transporting or manufacturing drugs
38. Organized prostitution
39. Forced prostitution

Crimes against national defense

40. Sabotaging weapons, military installations, or military communications
41. Providing substandard weapons or military installations

Corruption and bribery

42. Embezzlement

Breach of duty by soldiers

44. Insubordination
45. Concealment or false reporting of military intelligence
46. Refusing to pass or falsely passing orders
47. Surrender
48. Hindering commanding officers or personnel on duty from performing their duty
49. Defection with aircraft or ships
50. Selling military secrets
51. Spreading false information reducing morale
52. Theft of military weaponry or supplies
53. Illegally selling or transferring military weaponry or supplies
54. Killing innocent inhabitants of war zones or plundering their property
55. Cowardice