SHIJIAZHUANG: As the former chairwoman and general manager of dairy giant Sanlu Group, many may hold her responsible for the suffering of those children who took the company's milk products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

But old neighbors of 66-year-old Tian Wenhua in Nangang village, about 30km north of Shijiazhuang, provincial capital of Hebei, still find it hard to associate her with the scandal that saw six babies dead and at lead 290,000 others afflicted with kidney problems.

"She never showed off her wealth," said Zhang Xuezhen, 57, a widow who lives opposite the Tians' three-roomed brick house at the north end of the village.