Shi Lihai, born in April 1991, had been a police officer working in Mianxian and Xixiang counties in Shaanxi province since December 2017. On April 10 last year, Shi lost his life protecting others from a drunken man wielding a knife.

Shi had earlier shown his courage in October 2020, when he and his colleagues took down a man who was holding an ax and obstructing traffic at the entrance to a highway toll station.

Influenced by his grandfather, a retired officer, Shi always wanted to join the police.

In July 2016, Shi was working a company job after graduating from university, but decided to quit and sit the exams to join the police force.

During his six years as a community police officer, Shi handled cases and local people's requests for help with great care.

In the summer of 2018, a villager surnamed Gan lost her bag containing 6,000 yuan ($821) on her way downtown, but couldn't remember where she had left it. Upset and frustrated, she decided to call the police.

The day he received the call, Shi followed the route Gan had traveled, asking drivers, passengers, shop owners and others on the way for possible clues.

Shi continued his inquiry the following day, and finally found the bag in a shop selling cloth shoes.

When she got back the bag, Gan was very excited and thanked Shi repeatedly.

In 2020, Shi spent more than 10 days investigating a burglary case, before identifying the suspect and retrieving the 15,000 yuan that had been stolen.

As a police officer, Shi participated in the solving of a total of more than 100 criminal cases, capturing more than 200 suspects, and prevented the loss of property worth more than 1 million yuan.