The Sun Zhigang incident () refers to the 2003 death of the migrant worker Sun Zhigang in Guangzhou, as a result of physical abuse he suffered while being detained under China's custody and repatriation (C&R) system. The case received massive attention in media and on the Internet in China, resulting in the abolition of the C&R system by the national government. The victim Sun Zhigang (; 1976–2003) was from Huanggang, Hubei Province. He was a graduate of Wuhan University of Science and Technology (now Wuhan Textile University). After the Chinese New Year of 2003, he left Hubei for the coastal Guangdong Province, an area of south China that depends on migrant labor. He first found a job in Shenzhen, but later went to Guangzhou to work for Daqi Garment Company. Detention and death On March 20, 2003, 27-year-old Sun Zhigang died in the medical clinic of a detention center () in Guangzhou. He had been detained after being unable to produce his temporary living permit () and his resident identity card when he was stopped by the police. He had not applied for the permit and he had forgotten to carry his ID card. His residence permit (hukou) was with his family in Hubei. He called his friends to bring his ID card. Three days later, a friend called his family to tell them of the death. An official autopsy at Sun Yat-sen University, authorized by Sun's family, found evidence of a savage beating of his body 72 hours before prior to death. The detention center's medical clinic had reported the cause of death was a heart attack or a stroke. Reactions Sun's family reported the information to investigative reporters at Southern Metropolis Daily in Guangdong, on 25 April, during the SARS epidemic—the official reaction or lack of it to SARS had already created much controversy on the Internet, so Internet activity soon skyrocketed, hundreds of thousands of messages, with help from Sun's friends and outraged sympathizers. Some believed that the government censored postings, while most people wanted the government to take some action, but attention was focused only on the Sun case, not the general issue of C&R. Among these reactions, two groups of senior Chinese legal scholars wrote to the National People's Congress, questioning the constitutionality of the custody and repatriation regulation. One particular problem with the regulations was said to be that they had been adopted as