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A farmer who spent 11 years in prison for a murder that never happened is running a restaurant in Yichang, a major city in his home province of Hubei.

She Xianglin, 41, is a household name in China. The former security guard was convicted of murdering his wife in 1994. But his wife, Zhang Zaiyu, had actually fled their home due to poverty and unhappiness in the marriage. She came forward in 2005 to declare She Xianglin's innocence and he was awarded around 257,000 yuan in compensation.

He spent months recuperating from his ordeal before becoming the regional sales manager of a Shenzhen-based brewery in Yichang last year.

With his compensation and some knowledge of the local food and beverage market, She opened his own restaurant two months ago. "I might as well try. I want to earn a better living for myself and my daughter," he told Xinhua.

Like all parents, She talks endlessly about his daughter, an 18-year-old e-commerce major at a technical school in Yichang.

"She has to work harder than others because she never finished junior high school," he said.

A result of poverty and the absence of both parents, the girl had to quit school at 14 and eke out a living by herself in Guangzhou.

"Her teachers and I worried she might fall behind her classmates, but she didn't. Actually, she was the top student at the end of last semester," said She.

Despite his 11-year absence, She and his daughter are on good terms. "She jokingly calls me 'third brother' because I'm the third child in my family, and I call her 'little one'", he said, his confidence and good humor in sharp contrast to the pale, taciturn man who emerged from prison two years ago.

She Xianglin's "Fish and Turtle Restaurant" in downtown Yichang is a small place and employs only three people. "It's still too early to tell whether business will be good here. We've been running for just two months and there's a lot for me to learn."

But She said he is happy with his new life. "I'm trying to throw off my past grief and lead a normal life. I've got to be strong. I've got to pay my employees' wages and provide for my daughter. Her tuition alone is 6,000 yuan (US$770)."

He was relieved to learn that since Jan. 1, all death sentences passed down by local courts are being reviewed by the Supreme People's Court. For the past 24 years, lower courts were allowed to give death sentences and execute the criminals without the supreme court's approval.

"The reform helps avoid miscarriages of justice," he said. He himself had been sentenced to death with immediate execution at his first trial, but luckily, the Higher People's Court of Hubei Province saw points of doubt in his case and ordered a retrial, which reduced the penalty to 15years imprisonment.

"People are really vulnerable and helpless when sentenced to death without any evidence in favor of themselves -- and they are powerless to collect any," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)