"I experienced all kinds of hardships while I was on the run," said a suspected murderer after he surrendered to police in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

"I turned myself in because I could no longer endure the hardships of life as a fugitive," Jiang Shubao, 27, a native of Guangzhou, was quoted as saying by police officers.

In addition to confessing his crime, Jiang told police about his time on the run.

"I lived in fear all day long for the past five years," Jiang said.

He said he traveled to the cities of Yingde and Shaoguan in Guangdong province, bordering Hunan province, where he made a living by doing odd jobs, using a fake identity card.

Jiang said he worked as a waiter in restaurants and a car washer in a garage, and he never dared to walk around because he was afraid of being identified and caught by police.

"I felt I had no way out on the run after I learned that police had never given up their efforts to track me down," said Jiang.

Accompanied by family members, he arrived at Baiyun Branch of Guangzhou public security bureau to give himself up on June 4.

In a news release, the bureau alleges Jiang and his confederate, named Xu, used a shotgun to kill a man surnamed Zhong after robbing him on a basketball court in Jianggao township, in Guangzhou's Baiyun district, one night in July 2007.

Xu was detained by police but Jiang escaped.

Police asked Jiang's family to persuade him to surrender. They also asked Jiang's neighbors and friends to tip off police to Jiang's whereabouts, said a police officer from the bureau on Thursday.

The officer urged other fugitives to follow Jiang's example and turn themselves in.

"Police across the city will never give up their efforts to pursue and capture escaped suspects," said the officer, who did not want to be named.

Jiang was king of spades in the deck of cards issued by Guangzhou police that contains detailed information on 54 wanted criminals. The cards were issued in mid-April and have been widely distributed.

All 54 fugitives on the cards are men. More than 70 percent are suspected of murder.

Guangzhou police have posted a reward for the capture of the runaway criminals on the playing cards.

The biggest reward is 300,000 yuan ($47,600), which equals the annual income of a senior business executive in Guangzhou. It is for the capture of Shang Shaojie, who is also on the wanted list issued by the Ministry of Public Security. Shang is suspected of participating in murders in 2009.

Jiang has become the third fugitive on the "wanted" cards to turn himself in. Last month, Du Min, 27, the king of clubs surrendered to police.

Du, a native of Meizhou, Guangdong province, escaped after he and three confederates were suspected of having murdered a man in a rented house in Xinshi township, in Guangzhou's Baiyun district, last November.

Liu Rongwan, born in 1965, was the first of the 54 to turn himself in. The seven of spades on the cards had been on the run for eight years. He surrendered to police in late April.

Liu, a native of Gaozhou city in the western part of Guangdong, was suspected of having killed his former female subordinate in a farm in Tianxin village, in Guangzhou, on March 15, 2004.

Chen Wangqing, a Guangzhou office worker, said the cards issued by police have been effective, noting that three suspects surrendered to police in three months.

"Police should continue to make their great efforts, and take more effective and concrete measures to help pursue the large number of escaped suspects, particularly those who have committed murders, to ensure a sound and good social order for local residents," Chen said.

Contact the writer at zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn