This attracted global media attention in 2005 when Lu was severely beaten by hired thugs and the incident was witnessed by Guardian journalist Benjamin Joffe-Walt.
In October 2005, Zhijiang was in the news because one of the delegates to its (county-level) People's Congress, Lu Banglie (吕邦列), a village-rights activist, was savagely beaten on October 8, 2005 in the village of Taishi (太石), in Yuwotou town, Panyu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, by unknown persons.