A dog sent to rural Fangshan to escape a police ban broke away from its new owners and returned to its home in urban Beijing after 54 days.

Residents in the neighbor-hood of Zhongguancun in Beijing's Haidian District could not help but shed tears when they saw the bedraggled pooch outside their homes last Monday.

"I knew it was him when I heard barking coming from outside while I was cooking in the kitchen," said an elderly woman surnamed Chen.

Known as Dahuang, or Big Yellow, the once-healthy animal was standing at the doorway. His body was gaunt and skinny, with a wound on the front left paw and a swelling on his back apparently caused by a stone. Fur that used to be golden was now matted and black.

The animal could not stand up after entering Chen's home, collapsing from exhaustion.

Chen was not its only master. The dog was a stray three years ago when it first showed up in the courtyard fronting several residences. After Chen and a few neighbors fed him, the dog took to them as its masters and the neighbor-hood as its home.

The dog was fed by the neighbors until one day some other dog owners protested and called the police.

They complained Dahuang was a threat to their pets' health, and though the police failed to catch the dog, the temporary masters decided to send Dahuang to Fangshan, where medium-sized dogs are allowed to be raised.

In Beijing, medium-sized and large dogs are not allowed to be raised in urban areas to avoid possible attacks on humans. And all dogs in the city must being vaccinated.

The police refused to make an exception to the regulation, and the good-hearted neighbors have sent the dog back to Fangshan.

(China Daily December 1, 2003)