The case involving Yu Huan, who had come to his mother’s defense, provoked a national debate about family honor and filial piety.
BEIJING — A Chinese court commuted on Friday the sentence of a man who had killed a creditor who had harassed his mother, in a closely watched case that has provoked a national debate about family honor and filial piety.
The Shandong Higher People’s Court in eastern China sentenced the 22-year-old Yu Huan to five years in prison, overturning a lower court’s sentence of life in prison that had been widely condemned.
Mr. Yu was working alongside his mother, Su Yinxia, at the family’s store last year when 11 debt collectors showed up seeking payment from Ms. Su on a high-interest loan.
The men grew increasingly violent toward Ms. Su, cornering her and her son in a back office. When one of the collectors, Du Zhihao, yelled insults and exposed his genitals, Mr. Yu responded by stabbing Mr. Du and several other men. Mr. Du later died in a hospital.
Mr. Yu’s life sentence in February prompted a furious response, with tens of thousands of people taking to the internet to ask officials to show mercy.
Many argued that Mr. Yu had been carrying out his duty to protect his mother, an idea that resonated widely among many Chinese families.
In the end, the Shandong court found that the “very bad nature” of the insults directed at Ms. Su should be considered.
Mr. Yu’s relatives said on Friday that they were considering appealing the decision.
“What our child did was fair, ” his aunt, Yu Xiurong, said in a telephone interview. “He wasn’ t intending to harm them at all. He simply wanted to leave.”
As of Friday evening, the Shandong court’s decision was one of the most popular topics on the Weibo messaging service, with nearly five million views and thousands of comments.
