In an elaborate "hostage rescue" drama meticulously played out by real policemen and volunteers on Saturday, nine-year-old Zou Junyi, dressed in full police uniform, negotiated with hostage-takers in his wheelchair at a local shopping mall when his partner, a female police officer, overpowered two dagger-wielding villains and rescued three hostages.
Passersby let out an explosion of cheers for the little boy, who was paralysed with muscular dystrophy, as an electronic billboard nearby flashed the words “Junyi, you are an excellent police officer!”
Yan Wenjing, the mayor of Xinyu, Jiangxi province, then showed up at the scene and presented a medal to the boy.
Junyi has been battling the rare disease for three years, which left him wheelchair-bound and his family financially-strained, state media reported. The city’s authorities decided to put on a show to help Junyi realise his dream after the local government’s official Weibo account reported his case late last year.
The decision had drawn an outpouring of support from netizens and the authorities eventually selected five volunteers out of the nearly 300 people who offered to help in an online campaign.
After the successful rescue of the "hostages," the boy was also invited on a day tour with the city’s police force. He watched training sessions of police officers and SWAT teams, and helped direct traffic as a traffic cop during the day, Xinhua reported.