To keep fit for her job, Xu Saiying has run two to three kilometers every day for the past 20 years. She is not, as you might imagine, an athlete. The tough job that requires this fitness level is being a forensic examiner for the Shanghai Police.

The only woman in this position, Xu, 48, has worked in this capacity for more than 16 years. She examines bodies, providing forensic clues for investigations, and testifies at court as the police witness on medical matters.

It was a job that was considered too tough for a woman. Xu, a graduate of the Shanghai No. 2 Medical University and a former lecturer at the Shanghai No. 1 Medical University (now the Medical College of Fudan University), first applied to be a forensic expert for the city police in 1975. Despite the fact that the police were short of forensic detectives, Xu was turned down because she was a woman.

Undeterred, she applied again and finally got the job in 1985. "Chasing my dream took 10 years," she quips. Xu feels she is up to the job both intellectually and physically, as she has always been active and tenacious. A tomboy since a child, she taught herself how to roller-skate in just three hours at the age of 10.

Yet in spite of her medical background, she admits that she was unprepared for forensic medicine.

"The image of my first autopsy as a forensic examiner is indelible in my mind. It was July 1985. The body had been dredged out of a creek and was crawling with maggots. I was so shocked at the sight that I just stood there. I went to take a respirator to avoid the fetid smell, but was chided: "How can you make an accurate judgment with a respirator? You need to be able to smell as well." After that first assignment, I washed my hands dozens of times, and couldn't eat meat for a long, long time," she recalls.

Sixteen years and 400 bodies later, Xu still takes a bath afterwards. And although in this, like other things, she differs from her male colleagues, Xu thinks a woman on board is a good thing: "Males are strong and react quickly, but women are careful and sensitive."

A case in point is a child's body that Xu was assigned to examine. The child was found with three generations worth of maggots breeding on her, which led Xu to conclude that the girl had been dead for at least two weeks. As the police and her male colleagues began leaving the site, Xu's maternal instinct kicked in: where was the child's mother? No mother would leave a young child for two weeks. She re-checked the room and found a woman's body hidden in a case buried at the bottom of a pile of luggage.

Xu, who has an 18-year-old daughter, remains active and enjoys action movies like "Air Force One" and "First Blood", starring Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone. Her husband, Zhong Yunbao, was also a forensic expert. Their daughter, Zhong Huiqi, seems to have inherited her mother's disposition and is good at judo.

Yet who will inherit Xu's career is still uncertain, though there are no other women in the forensic team, and no signs of a second Xu Saiying.

"When I left the hospital and joined the police team, many of my friends and relatives couldn't understand my decision," said Xu, whose monthly salary is 2,000 yuan. Despite the fact that many of her classmates have far higher salaries or better working conditions, Xu is proud of her career choice. "I chose the job not for money. Compared with a doctor, my job is more exciting," she says.

A fan of Sherlock Holmes since childhood, Xu says it is her active character and sense of social responsibility that led her to quit the job of a college lecturer and to become a forensic expert. "I read many detective novels, such as Whodunnit, when I was young. The reading motivated me to take this challenging job."

The police are very lucky, and so is the city. In March this year, Xu Saiying was recognized as one of city's 11 "model women."

"I will feel proud and happy each time the police arrest a criminal with some of my help," Xu says.

(Eastday.com 08/21/2001)