On a bleak concrete footpath in north Dublin small bouquets of flowers are gently laid at the spot where Zhao Liu Tao lay unconscious after being struck with a metal bar.
In keeping with a Chinese tradition, four cigarettes are lit and laid at the little shrine in front of a copse of trees in a Beaumont cul-de-sac. The smoke will lead Mr Zhao's ghost "to another, better place", said a friend.
Yesterday his stunned younger brother, Mr Zhao Liu Yang, and his distressed cousin, Ms Song Je Hui, were surrounded by some 100 members of the Chinese community in Dublin as they stood for a moment's silence in tribute to the 29-year-old student who died three days after an assault by Irish youths last Monday night at Beaumont Grove.
Mr Zhao, a martial arts coach, said yesterday that the family "and all his friends are very shocked. We thought Ireland was a peaceful, friendly country so we are very shocked that this could happen," he said through a translator.
He described his older brother as a "very honest, quiet man with loads of friends. He was a manager in a large property company and came to Ireland to improve his English." Ms Song said: "It is so sudden, so sad. We did not really believe it. We could not, until we saw his body."
Mr Zhao and Ms Song, who arrived in Dublin on Saturday, have met investigating gardaí who are following a definite line of inquiry into the attack. Detectives received a huge response from the public as the assault happened in a busy area. The substantive part of the investigation is complete since a 16-year-old presented himself at Coolock Garda station and made a statement.
A friend of the family in Shenyang, in Liaoning province, told The Irish Times that Mr Zhao's parents, Mr Zhao Hsing Li and Zhao Hsing Liu, "are in shock and his mother is taking it very badly. She is very ill and is receiving medical treatment".
A police officer in Shenyang who has been liaising with the family said "they cannot believe this has happened. They did not expect this to happen in your country," he said.
