In the four days between Feb. 20 and 23, 2024, at least two Chinese academicians and six prominent professors, all members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), died of illness.
Among these eight scholars include Zhu Qihe, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Li Peicheng, an academician of the Academy of Engineering (AEA) and an expert in soil and water engineering; Cui Guitian, director of the Institute of Contemporary Socialism at the Shandong University; and Tao Gertu, 54, director and deputy party chief of the School of Journalism and Communication at Inner Mongolia Normal University.
Academician Zhu Qihe, a physical chemistry scientist, died on Feb. 20, at 99, in Beijing, after medical efforts failed to revive him.
Mr. Zhu was born on July 12, 1924, and became an academician of the CAS in 1995. He had been a physics teacher at the Harbin Military Engineering College, where he participated in nuclear reactor design and laser application projects. He transferred to the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1978, where he was responsible for superconducting magnets, superconducting microwave cavities, and laser acceleration. In his late fifties, he transferred to the Institute of Chemistry of the CAS in 1981, where he was responsible for the creation of the Molecular Reaction Dynamics Laboratory.
Mr. Zhu has successfully developed six large-scale experimental devices utilizing molecular beams and lasers with international caliber, and was awarded the First and Second Prizes for Scientific and Technological Progress by the CAS.
Academician Li Peicheng, an expert in hydrogeology, hydroecology, and soil and water engineering, died in Xi’an City on Feb. 23 at the age of 89. The official obituary described him as an outstanding member of the CCP.
Mr. Li had long been engaged in teaching and scientific research in the fields of agricultural soil and water engineering, groundwater percolation, land reclamation, water resources and environment, and so on.
He was also an expert of the Groundwater Expert Group of the Ministry of Water Resources and a member of the Policy Advisory Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial Government. He became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2003. As a top expert, he received many scientific and technological awards at national, provincial, and ministerial levels.
Tao Gertu, director and deputy party chief of the School of Journalism and Communication at Inner Mongolia Normal University, died on Feb. 21 at the age of 54.
Mr. Tao, a Mongolian with a Ph.D. in literature, specialized in intercultural communication, international communication, film and television anthropology, and public opinion research. He was the head of a team of experts designated to receive major government support in the field of propaganda, ideology, and culture in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Gong Zhenbang, 82, former Vice President of Shanghai University and robotics expert, died on Feb. 20 in Shanghai due to illness.
Mr. Gong served as Vice President of Shanghai University from 1994 to 2002 and has long researched special robotics technology, micro and small robotics, MEMS-based microelectromechanical systems, and precision mechanical transmission technology. He has been awarded a number of scientific and technological prizes at the national, provincial, and ministerial levels.
Cui Guitian, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Socialism at Shandong University, died on Feb. 20 in Jinan City, Shandong Province, at the age of 64.
Mr. Cui was also a member of the Academic Review Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, a standing member of the Shandong Association of Scientific Socialism, and a member of the Foreign Socialism Specialized Committee of the so-called Association of Scientific Socialism.
He has mainly researched socialist countries such as Laos, North Korea, and Cuba. Many of his reports have been adopted by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CCP and the Ministry of Education; and many of his papers have won the first, second, and third prizes of the so-called Excellent Achievements in Party Building Research of the Central Organization Department of the CCP.
Two female professors also died during this 4-day period.
Hua Ming, 88, a retired associate professor from the College of Electronic Science and Engineering at Nanjing University, died on Feb. 23 in Nanjing, China, after the failure of medical measures.
Wu Qing, 95, former associate professor of acting at the Beijing Film Academy, died on Feb. 21 due to illness.
Chinese authorities have largely abandoned the customary practice of listing the specific cause of death in the official obituary. It is widely believed that this is done to hide the true number of COVID-19 deaths in the country.
