This autumn, China is facing a new wave of COVID-19 outbreaks. Meanwhile, officials have continued to publish obituaries to mourn the deaths of high-ranking officials, professors, experts, and elites who died of unspecified “illnesses,” including many young people.
Entering the fall season, a new strain of COVID-19, EG.5, is spreading in many parts of China; with fears that a new infection peak is approaching.Hospitals, funeral parlors, and crematoriums in China were once the busiest places in the country following the stringent “zero-COVID” policy implemented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities after the pandemic broke out in 2020. At the end of last year, the authorities suddenly lifted the lockdown measures without preparation, causing the number of deaths to increase dramatically, and funeral parlors and crematoriums were almost overwhelmed.
Official Obrituries Continue to Surge
More and more official obituaries have been posted online, and the ages of the dead are no longer predominantly the elderly, with a number of young and middle-aged people appearing on the official death lists.According to incomplete statistics based on public obituaries, in the past 50 days between Aug. 1 and Sept. 20, at least 76 CCP members in governmental organs, scientific research fields, and state-owned entities have died, some at their prime.
All those deaths in the official reports were attributed to “illness,” as it is customary for official obituaries to avoid mentioning the cause of death in relation to COVID-19.
Among them, at least 24 public security police officers died, most in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.
The youngest, only 23 years old, Wang Ruicong, is a first-class police officer at the Luhong City Police Station of the Dong’an County Public Security Bureau in Yongzhou City, Hunan Province.
Part of those deceased is Chen Liru, president of the Xicheng District Court in Beijing; Wang Ruicong, a first-ranking police officer at the Luhong City Police Station of the Public Security Bureau of Dong’an County in Hunan Province; Chen Yongqun, a first-ranking superintendent of the Criminal Detection Brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Puning City in Guangdong Province; Li Jianlan, the director of the command center of the Traffic Police Detachment of the Suqian Public Security Bureau of Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province; Zhuo Yifen, a cadre of the military district of Jiangsu Province, and Li Hongchun, first-ranking police chief of the Detention Center of the Public Security Bureau of Muting County in Yunnan Province.
At least six members of the Central Committee, CCP’s top political decision-making body, were recently reported to have died, including:
Xie Hua, former deputy director of the rural policy research office of the secretariat of the Central Committee; Zhang Ce, former head of the discipline inspection group of the Central Committee’s discipline inspection commission in the Ministry of Labor and Personnel; Wang Shaojun, former deputy director of the general office of the Central Committee and Head of the Bureau of Police and Guards; Wang Jumei, deputy director of the Organization Department of the Henan Provincial Party Committee; Yang Mingzheng, former assistant inspector in the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of Anhui Province; and Zou Entong, former vice-minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Executives of State-Owned Enterprise
Nine state-owned corporate executives were also found to have died in the recent two months, all of whom were CCP members:Professors, Party Heads of Universities
At least 32 academicians, professors, and party leaders of universities recently died; seven of them were under the age of 64, with the youngest being only 33. The list is as follows:Qi Yi, former deputy director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Hu Ying, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Zhang Peiyu, researcher of Purple Mountain Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences;
Two professors of Peking University’s Basic Medical Sciences, Gong Enchong and Liu Bin; Three from China University of Petroleum: Shuai Jian, professor of the Institute of Safety and Ocean Engineering, Cui Xiuzhen, senior engineer; Zhang Jiajia, associate professor of the Institute of Earth Sciences.
Four from China Agricultural University: Lu Shuyun, professor of the Institute of Agriculture; Li Nan, professor of the Institute of Science; Guo Ping, professor of the Faculty of Water Resources and Civil Engineering; Wang Buzheng, former deputy secretary of Party Committee of Beijing Agricultural University (former China Agricultural University);
Three from Harbin Institute of Technology: Su Erhuang, a retired professor from the School of Energy Science and Engineering, Yi Kai, a retired teacher from the Department of Student Work, and Gao Jinghua, secretary of the former Department of Precision Instrumentation of the Institute of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering;
Tu Meizhen, retired teacher of the Department of Geosciences of Beijing Normal University; Zhang Zailiang, professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University; Isabel Crook, foreign specialist of Beijing Foreign Studies University; Yu Shunzhang, epidemiologist and dean of the Institute of Public Health of Fudan University; Li Jiguang, former president of the First Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University; Wu Mei, former party secretary of Jilin Agricultural University; Chen Zhian, former party secretary of Shandong University; and Chen Junchang, former party secretary of Xi'an University of Medical Sciences;
Influential figures in the CCP’s arts and publicity circle: Situ Zhaodun, an expert on communist-subject film and television documentaries; Shi Wanchun, music composer for “The Red Detachment of Women” and “The Birth of New China;” Qiu Yun, a member of the Writers’ Association; and Yuan Ying, the former director of Arts Department of the People’s Daily Newspaper.
The official reports of those deaths described that they were CCP members who had dedicated their lives to the regime and its cause.
