They are not the police and they are not from a law-enforcement agency. But they are working tirelessly to protect those in danger and help ensure the stability of the society.

The government and the public commend them for their bravery by presenting them with top awards.

About 150 people were rewarded with the title, "National Model Individual."

Zhao Mingying, a taxi driver from North China's Shanxi Province, was among them.

Zhao, who lives in Datong, chased a criminal who was known for murdering people on the morning of August 42,000 at a corner of the city's railway station. He drove as close to the criminal as he could, but unfortunately the criminal got away in a taxi.

Zhao chased after the car and when he spotted three traffic police he immediately reported what he had seen.

The killer was caught within 15 minutes.

"I just did what a responsible citizen should do," Zhao told about 1,000 participants at Thursday's ceremony.

Ding Guangen, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and State Councillor Luo Gan attended the ceremony.

This is the seventh time that the ministry has organized such an event to reward ordinary citizens who have joined hands with police in the struggle against criminals. The sixth reward meeting was held in 1999.

Jia Chunwang, minister of public security, praised the heroes. "When faced with crimes and evil deeds, some people stand by and some people throw themselves into saving victims and chasing criminals," Jia said.

"The latter are examples of the spirit of the Chinese people," Jia said.

"The capability of the police is limited but that of the people is immeasurable," Jia said.

"The more involved ordinary people are, the more stable our society is," Jia said.

In another development, the ministry had captured 1,456 criminal suspects across the nation in eight hours since the authority launched its "all-out" nationwide battle to crack down on lawbreakers on last Thursday.

The anti-crime drive will continue until the end of the month. And 241,707 police have been involved in the eight-hour fight.

The ministry has required all public security department at all levels across the country to spare no effort to win the battle.

The battle is part of the ministry's 70-day campaign to capture those suspected criminal who are still at large.

The ministry launched the campaign on September 20 and has so far detained more than 30,000 suspects.

(China Daily October 27, 2001)