Mysterious spate of official suicides in China sparks debate, censorship

BEIJING A series of mysterious apparent suicides by Chinese officials in the past three weeks, including of two senior figures, has sparked debate and questions among ordinary people here, as well as a fresh round of online censorship.

Was President Xi Jinpings anti-corruption drive putting so much pressure on his ruling Communist Party that some members were being driven to take their own lives? Was it all just a coincidence? Or does a life of deceit and hypocrisy eventually take its toll?

Chinese media reported Thursday that 58-year-old Xu Yean, a deputy director in the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, was found hanged in his office earlier in the week.

Xus department handles the petitions and complaints of ordinary citizens against local government officials. Although Xu had not been publicly linked with any corruption investigation, a senior colleague was fired and placed under investigation last November for a severe violation of party discipline.

Yu Jianrong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), was quoted as saying on social media at that time that the department had become one of the most corrupt sectors of the government, often using its power to extract bribes from local officials to silence complaints.

He Gaobo, a local official responsible for building safety in the city of Fenghua in the eastern province of Zhejiang, was found dead in another suspected suicide Wednesday, five days after an apartment building collapsed in the city.

Local media reported the building had been declared unsafe months before, but no action had been taken to repair it. Three people involved in the buildings construction have been arrested in connection with that case, media reported.

Last Friday, senior policeman Zhou Yu was found hanged in a hotel room in the central Chinese city of Chongqing. Zhou had been a major figure in a crackdown on organized crime in the city under the leadership of Bo Xilai, a senior Communist Party leader who was imprisoned for corruption. He was reported to be depressed about health issues related to diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver.

A senior official at state-owned power generation company Datang was also reported to have died in suspicious circumstances March 29, after being physically unwell and depressed, although the company denied it was suicide.

But perhaps the most sensational death of all was that of Li Wufeng, a 56-year-old known as Chinas top Internet cop, who was reportedly involved in maintaining a system of online censorship known as the Great Firewall of China. He was said to have jumped to his death from the sixth floor of his office building March 24 after constantly being in a bad mood, local media reported.

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Mysterious spate of official suicides in China sparks debate, censorship