File photo shows Zhang Liwei took part in an activity in the temple.(Photo from WeChat)

Getting away with murder, switching identities, getting a job as a janitor in a temple, rising through the ranks to become abbot, elected as a political advisor and becoming chairman of local Buddhist Association - you can't say that the last 16 years of Zhang Liwei's life hasn't been somewhat dramatic.

But this astonishing journey came to an abrupt halt on August 12, 2016, when police raided the temple he was in and arrested him for the murders he committed back in November 2000.

Zhang was suspected along with 4 others of killing three people in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, becoming the subject of a police manhunt.

He fled to east China's Anhui province, where he changed his name to Sun Hongtao.

In 2001, he took a job as a helper in Baisui Temple on the Jiuhua Mountain of Anhui province. Being an outgoing and easygoing person he fitted in well.

However, after a conflict with a tourist who refused to buy a ticket in 2002, he moved to Longxing Temple in Fengyang county where he settled down once more.

There he became a monk, taking advantage of the loose verification process at the time.

According to a monk there, Zhang started working there as a janitor. He was gradually promoted due to his popularity with the people there and his talent for management.

He began to take charge of the temple around 2007. About the same time he was elected as a political advisor of Fengyang county.

In 2008, he received an official household registration, or hukou, in the name of Sun Hongtao in Fuyang city, also in Anhui province, completing the process of changing his identity.

An official of the police station where Zhang apparently registered had no memory of his case.

In the same year, he was elected as the political advisor of Chuzhou city as well as vice chairman of the Buddhist Association there.

In 2011, Zhang filed the names of the principal monks of the temple in the records of the religious authority of Fengyang city.

"When we checked Sun Hongtao's information then, we didn't find anything wrong," says an officer of the religious authority.

In 2014, after a temple election, on the recommendation of the former abbot, and after sailing through the verification process of the Buddhist Association of Fengyang county, plus after filing documents with the local religious authority, Zhang took up the position as the abbot of Longxing Temple.

In March 2016, he was elected as the chairman of the Buddhist Association of Fengyang county.

Far from deliberately avoiding contact with the outside world to reduce the risk of discovery, Zhang took an active part in public life, choosing to travel using private cars.

He was discovered by the police while making an application to travel abroad, which required taking photos and fingerprints, according to one monk in the temple.

The police compared photos and confirmed that Sun Hongtao was actually Zhang Liwei, the fugitive on August 10, 2016. They arrested him two days later.

When he was arrested, he appeared composed, confessing his real identity and the crime he had committed.

According to the local religious authority, Longxing Temple has donated over 1 million yuan (around 15 million USD) in recent years.

Zhang has also been supporting two poor students in the area by giving them money every month. He is on record as saying that he would support them until they graduated from college.

During his days as abbot, he also had the temple renovated from a former state of dilapidation.

But can the good deeds he has done redeem the crime he once committed?

The abbot who has succeeded him finds that question hard to answer.

After hearing the story of Zhang, a Buddhist nun in the humble Buddhist nunnery beside Longxing temple sighed and said that "Buddha teaches us to confess our wrongdoings and Zhang should have confessed his crime, if he sincerely follows the Buddha's teachings."