China's Answer to a Crime Includes Amateur Sleuths.

As they awaited their fates in holding cell No. 9 of the Puning County jail, Li Qiaoming and a half-dozen fellow inmates played ''elude the cat,'' a Chinese hide-and-seek that might be better described as Marco Polo without the pool. Mr. Li put on a blindfold, groped for quarry and soon was lying on the floor with a fatal head injury. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]