China Lost 4 Academicians and 19 Renowned Scholars in the First Half of December

In the first half of December, China lost at least 4 academicians and 19 renowned scholars, including Tang Xiaoou, a billionaire behind Chinese AI giant SenseTime, a U.S.-sanctioned company for providing facial-recognition technology for Beijing’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims.

Mr. Tang died suddenly in Shanghai on the evening of Dec. 15, 2023. He is only 55 years old.

SenseTime is known as China’s “AI Unicorn.” It is the driving force behind the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) so-called Skynet Project—building an extensive surveillance system all over the country. The company also develops AI-powered facial recognition software for banks and police departments in China. In December 2021, the U.S. government put SenseTime on its blacklist of “China’s military-industrial complex enterprises.”

Three Other Middle-Aged Scholars

Yang Xuemei, president and professor of Huanghe Institute of Science and Technology, died of a sudden heart attack on Dec. 13, 2023, at the age of 53 years.

Ms. Yang was a member of the Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association, one of the eight minor political parties in China. These so-called “democratic parties” served as political ornament in the country, to present the image that China also adopts a multi-party system.

Ms. Yang also held other prestigious titles such as vice president of the China Association for Private Education. She has been awarded the “National May 1st Labor Medal” and “National March 8th Red Flag Woman” by the CCP.

Hou Yinxia, ​​associate professor of Economics at Harbin Institute of Technology, died on Dec. 6, 2023, due to an illness for which medical treatment was ineffective. She was only 50 years old.

Qiu Yongcai, a professor in the School of Environment and Energy of South China University of Technology, passed away on Dec. 3, 2023, at the age of 40 due to illness.

Mr. Qiu is an expert in the field of Nano-technology. He became a professor at South China University of Technology in July 2017, and was selected as one of the thirteenth batch of China’s “Youth Thousand Talents Program” in that same year.

Four Academicians Died in 11 Days

Four accomplished academicians passed away in a span of 11 days.

Wang Zicai, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Harbin Institute of Technology, and an expert in the field of automatic control and system simulation, passed away on Dec. 13, 2023, in Harbin due to ineffective medical treatment.

Mr. Wang had developed key technologies for space station rendezvous and docking, and had won numerous national and provincial scientific and technological awards.

Sang Guowei, a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a pharmacologist, died in Beijing on Dec. 7, 2023, due to illness. He has served as former vice president of the Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences and director of the Institute of Drug Research, director of the Birth Control Research Institute, director of the China Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, chairman of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association, and chief technical officer of “Major New Drug Creation Project.”

Xiao Xuchang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researcher and former director of the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, died in Beijing on Dec. 6, 2023, due to illness. As a geotectonic expert, he has participated in the project of chromite, a mineral that was urgently needed by the CCP, and has won many science and technology awards at national, provincial, and ministerial levels.

Xu Chengen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, adviser to the Science and Technology Committee of Sinopec, and adviser to the Science and Technology Committee of the Engineering and Construction Corporation, passed away on Dec. 3, 2023, in Beijing due to an illness after medical intervention failed to revive him.

He was the former president of the Beijing Petroleum Society. In 1989, he was honored by the Ministry of Construction as one of the “National Masters of Engineering Survey and Design.” The Fujian Refinery Master Project designed by Mr. Xu was honored by the Ministry of Construction with the Grand Prize for the Best Engineering Design of the Nation, and his design of the catalytic cracking technology of atmospheric residue oil at Daqing was awarded the First Prize for the Progress of Science and Technology.

15 Famous Scholars

In addition, at least 15 renowned professors or researchers passed away in the first half of December, according to obituaries posted online.

These include Li Qiang, former dean of the School of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University; Liu Guoshu, a professor at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts and an oil painter; Shao Wangping, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Xie Qinghuang, a professor at Jinan University and chief medical expert at Foshan Maternal and Child Health Hospital; retired associate professor at Fudan University Law School Gu Xuankui; professor Wu Xincai, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences; professor Zhang Jianxi, former deputy director of basic surgery and chief physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Jiao Xiwei, professor and oral medicine expert, West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University; Zhang Huaipu, a retired professor at te School of Public Health, Shanghai Second Medical University; Zhao Shaohu, former director of the Art Department of Jiangsu University Art College; Ma Mozhen, professor of Chinese revolutionary history at Beijing Medical University; Sun Meilan, art theorist of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Zheng Weide, professor of the Department of Mathematics of Nanjing University; Gao Chunjin, former director of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Department and chief physician of Chaoyang Hospital; and Wang Chengyi, an oil painter and professor at China Academy of Art.

Since December 2022, various official sources in China reported many deaths of experts, senior CCP officials, corporate executives, and young and middle-aged police officers, some of whom have been praised as “outstanding Party members.”