A difficult task

Of the more than 100 children in cases Liu has dealt with in recent years, Ding Ding (not his real name) impressed her the most.

Before he was taken to Liu on accusations of theft in September 2016, the then 17-year-old boy from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region had been apprehended by police for pilfering more than 200 times and had been given administrative punishments, such as fines and detention, four times.

"It was not a difficult case because the evidence was strong enough to prove the teenager's guilt," Liu said.

In November 2016, the Dongcheng District People's Court sentenced Ding Ding to nine months in prison after being convicted of theft.

Even though the case had been concluded, Liu continued to assist the young man "as his post-prison future was my biggest concern", she said.

She remembers that the young man told her that he stole frequently because he was hungry and had no skills to earn a living. "It meant that if we didn't help him find a way to earn money, he might commit crimes again," Liu said.

She tried to contact Ding Ding's parents, in a bid to educate him through family care, but to her disappointment, he had lost contact with his mother a long time before, while his father, who often assaulted the young man, had died in an accident in 2013.

At the same time, the companies she contacted on Ding Ding's behalf were unwilling to hire him. "When I dealt with his case, I was so anxious because I had promised Ding Ding that I would provide him with a job opportunity. I didn't want to make a promise I could not keep," she said.

Thanks to Liu's constant efforts, a local vegetable delivery center finally agreed to employ the young man.

Armed with the good news, Liu met Ding Ding the day before his release from prison. She also decided to take him back to Inner Mongolia to help him register for an identity card, "as in this way, he would be able to get back on track more smoothly", she said.

Feeling her compassion and seeing all the things she had done for him, Ding Ding began to trust Liu implicitly, regarding her as his older sister and sharing his daily life with her via WeChat.

Liu called on her colleagues to order vegetables from the center to create opportunities to talk to Ding Ding and follow his development.

After working for about six months, Ding Ding began getting along with other people and became more confident in his life and work. One day, he told Liu that he planned to travel to Shenzhen, a manufacturing hub in Guangdong province, to try something different and see the wider world.

After he left Beijing, he often sent Liu information about his new job as a general worker in a local hotel and his new life.

In April 2018, Liu received a photo from Ding Ding, which showed that he had been named as one of the hotel's outstanding staff members.

"I was so moved and excited at that time," Liu said. "I knew that the pains I had taken over the boy had not been in vain, even if it took more time and I had to do extra work in addition to handling cases."