New careers await the 'heroine' of underdogs

Deng Yujiao was a high school dropout working as a hotel waitress before she was elevated to the position of a national icon for her struggle against official immorality.

Now the 21-year-old from Hubei province's Badong county has become a darling of the job market. She has had offers of work in botanical research, as a Web editor and even as a movie star.

The young woman killed Deng Guida, an official from Yesanguan town, with a fruit knife on May 10 when he forced himself on her in a hotel bathing area. She also injured another official who was with Deng and tried to assault her. She was convicted for intentionally causing bodily harm but freed on June 16, largely because of a Web-based campaign that made her a symbol of the grass-roots struggle against injustice and official immorality.

Shortly after Ms Deng's release from house arrest, Fu Dezhi , a high-profile botanist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, wrote in his blog that he was determined she should become his student to possibly work towards a PhD.

Showcan.cn, a Hangzhou -based commercial internet portal specialising in vocational training programmes, extended a job offer to Ms Deng to join the company as a Web editor for 3,000 yuan (HK$3,400) a month plus free accommodation.

According to mainland media reports, some film and television producers have cast their eyes on Ms Deng to star in a movie.

Professor Fu, who was credited with leading a campaign to expose fake photos of a South China tiger living in the wild in 2007, said that he was inspired by a People's Daily editorial calling the woman 'a national hero' who changed history with a fruit knife.