As harsh as this sounds, it's a cultural thing. The Chinese generally don't believe in respecting IP, this is coming from someone who has lived with Chinese for many many years. To them, it's like a shopping basket, you just pick what you like. Unfortunately, for this guy, it seemed like he didn't understand how copyrights work in the US.

Also as a matter of personal experience, I've had a couple of my photographs stolen by popular Chinese newspapers who refused to attribute it to me.

P.S - I am not commenting on the morality of his action here, I'm simply suggesting the way their culture works is probably a big reason to him getting charged.