Hsinchu's National Tsing Hua Uni-versity, known as the cradle of Taiwan's high-tech community, was recently the scene of a murder in which the corpse was disfigured with acid. The victim: Hsu Chia-chen, a second-year postgraduate student in the Institute of Radiation Biology; the killer: one of her own classmates. Because the case involved a love triangle, and because those involved were all "good" students with shining academic records, it has aroused renewed public attention.

On the morning of 9 March, the body of an unidentified female was discovered in a lecture theater on the second floor of Tsing Hua University's Institute of Radiation Biology. The corpse had been attacked by acid from the knees up, and the face was completely unrecognizable. Later, after identification by her relatives, the deceased was named as Hsu Chia-chen, a 25-year-old postgraduate student. The brutal murder of an ordinary postgraduate student at a prestigious university, in a research institute building with access restricted by the use of a magnetic card reader, shocked the public and aroused the special concern of the police.

Evidence gathered at the crime scene suggested that the victim had been involved in a struggle with her killer in front of the lectern, and after being knocked unconscious had been dragged in front of an air-conditioning unit at the rear of the lecture theater, smearing a trail of blood up the theater steps; finally, acid had been poured on her body. A condom was found lying near the corpse. At first the police did not rule out rape, a crime of passion or a robbery. But after investigating Hsu Chia-chen's contacts before her death, they announced on the morning of 12 March that the case had been solved, and that the killer was Hsu's classmate and close friend Hung Hsiao-hui.

The forensic examination of the crime scene and their subsequent enquiries provided the police with several important clues. The restricted access to the institute, the use of laboratory chemicals, and the fact that the killer knew how to mix them, all pointed to the involvement of someone inside the institute. The post mortem examination put the time of Hsu Chia-chen's death some time in the early morning of 7 March, and the food remains in her stomach confirmed that she had been killed after a late-night snack she had had with Hung Hsiao-hui, her boyfriend Tseng Huan-tai and others. In the course of their investigations, the police discovered that not long before the time of Hsu's murder, her credit card had been used illegally, and the credit limit exceeded. The person who used it was Hung Hsiao-hui. Secondly, comparison showed that a piece of fingernail, painted with nail polish, which was found caught in Hsu's pullover, matched Hung's fingernails, and this also coincided with the fact that Hung had very recently cut short all her fingernails, which had previously been long. Traces of Hsu's blood on the cuff of Hung's coat sleeve provided even more damning evidence.

Furthermore, in a deliberate attempt to deflect suspicion from herself, Hung Hsiao-hui sent some e-mails in Hsu Chia-chen's name on the morning of 7 March, after she had killed Hsu. But this in fact provided a key clue which helped solve the case, because the investigating prosecutors determined that they had been sent after Hsu's death, and an eyewitness saw Hung using a university computer on the morning of 7 March. When confronted with all these pieces of evidence, Hung finally confessed to the crime.

Hsu Chia-chen and Hung Hsiao-hui had formerly been the most intimate of friends, often sharing many of their possessions. Both had been romantically involved with doctoral candidate Tseng Huan-tai, a more senior student in the same institute, and at times the three had even all shared the same bed. But recently Hsu and Hung had frequently argued over their feelings for Tseng, and over Hsu's accusations that Hung had used her credit card without permission. Hung Hsiao-hui said that in the early hours of 7 March, she had gone with Hsu Chia-chen to the lecture theater to talk things out with her. But they had begun to argue, and had come to blows. Hung had grabbed hold of Hsu's head and hit it hard against the floor, knocking her unconscious. Then she had poured anaesthetic into Hsu's mouth and nose to prevent her coming round. That evening, she had returned to the crime scene and discovered that Hsu was already dead. She had then used aqua regia-a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids-to disfigure the body and make it unrecognizable. Near the body she had left a condom which she had kept as a souvenir after having sex with Tseng Huan-tai, in an attempt to mislead the police into investigating the killing as a rape case.

When the facts of the case became clear, they shocked the whole of society, and gave rise to much debate. People found the case even more startling not only because had it occurred in a staid seat of higher learning, but also because all those involved came from backgrounds which did not suggest criminality or licence: Hsu Chia-chen's father is a civil servant, and her parents gave her a strict upbringing; and Hung Hsiao-hui had always been a "good student," with excellent grades since childhood and a smooth academic career.

On campus computer forums, many students put the blame on the two young women's common boyfriend, Tseng Huan-tai. In fact, Tseng also had another, "main," girlfriend, and Hsu and Hung were themselves aware that they were only his "second" and "third" girlfriends. Although Tseng stated publicly: "I cannot escape moral responsibility for this tragedy," he also said that Hsu and Hung were not his real girlfriends. This attitude aroused scathing attacks from other students, with accusations that the whole affair had been caused by this "randy git," "rotter" and "scoundrel." At Tsing Hua there were many calls for Tseng to be expelled from the university.

After the murder was solved, the Tsing Hua University authorities set up a committee to investigate the case, and Tsing Hua president Liu Chiung-ming said that the university intended to improve lighting on campus, step up security patrols, restrict access to dormitories, classrooms and laboratories, and tighten controls on dangerous chemicals. But he also commented that what was more important was to light the lamps in students' souls. As for Tseng Huan-tai, the university has already asked him to voluntarily resign, on the grounds of "bringing the good name of the university into disrepute." It has also accepted the resignation of Institute of Radiation Biology director Chou Kui-yuan.

The Ministry of Education will respect Tsing Hua's decision to ask Tseng Huan-tai to resign from the university, but the presidents of other universities have expressed differing opinions about this. Shih Hsin University president Cheng Chia-ling commented that since Tseng had upgraded to the Institute of Radiation Biology's doctoral program directly from its master's program, on leaving the university he would have only a bachelor's degree, and would probably be unable to publish his research. This was rather regrettable, and perhaps suspension would have been another option which would have given everyone the chance to cool off, and Tseng the opportunity to reflect on his own role in the affair.

As to the deeper causes of the tragedy, Shih Chi-ching, founder of the Warm Life Association for Women, believes that Taiwan's education system produces many people who are "intellectually civilized but emotional savages." Associate Professor Peng Huai-chen of Tunghai University's social work department says that the difficult but very real and important subject of relationships between the sexes is one about which no university, graduate institute or for that matter society at large gives proper instruction and guidance. He comments that in the emotional sphere, any experiment may be dangerous, and stresses that professional counselors are there to help just like the technicians in a laboratory: anyone having problems should turn to them, and so prevent love and death from going hand in hand.

Affairs of the heart are not governed by rules and regulations, and similarly how to face up to setbacks and how to view human values cannot be learned simply from books. Former Tsing Hua president Shen Chun-shan says that this latest case bears some similarity to one three years ago in which a Tsing Hua student put mercury into a drinking water dispenser in an attempt to poison his girlfriend, hoping he could win back her affections while nursing her back to health. Both cases involved the use of specialist knowledge about dangerous chemicals, and in both those involved lacked the strength of moral character to subdue and control their own emotions. In Shen's view, a value system needs to be established in Taiwanese society whereby people "know how to win but also how to lose, how to compete but also how to forgive." Associate Professor Cheng Jui-lung of the Graduate Institute of Criminology at National Chung Cheng University also advances the concept of "all-round personal development," without which the one-sided, competitive values fostered by an affluent society will lead to twisted personalities and a savage world in which we are all the losers.

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After Hung Hsiao-hui confessed to the Tsing Hua University killing, she was taken back to the crime scene by the police to re-enact the events. (photo by Lo Chun-pin)