Three Deaths In One Week On Chinese College Campuses

While netizens on Weibo (China’s Twitter) are still playing detective on the Fudan poison case this week, three more equally unfortunate incidents occurred in universities around China, two of which were fatal.

On Monday, two roommates at Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University had a quarrel that ended with one fatally stabbing the other.

Around 9:00 p.m., a student identified only by the last name Yuan was playing a video game in his dorm room. His roommate, identified only by the last name Jiang, having forgotten his keys, knocked on the door. Yuan didn’t open the door for a time, and, when he eventually let Jiang in, the two students got into a heated argument that led to a physical fight. Yuan, in the heat of the moment, grabbed a fruit knife on a bookcase and stabbed Jiang in the chest. Jiang died at the hospital.

Both students had good grades, according to Jiangnan Times, a regional newspaper; Yuan, the alleged killer, is particularly studious.

On Tuesday, a rotting corpse was discovered in a dorm room in Nanchang Hangkong University, located in the southeastern province of Jiangxi. The corpse was later confirmed to be a graduate student of the school’s journalism program, identified only by his last name, Peng. All three of the dorm’s other roommates were interning away from campus at the time.

“The school didn’t know anything,” a spokesperson for the school, Li Jiangyao, said during a press conference. “But Peng’s parents couldn’t locate him, so we gave the dorm keys to his friend Zheng Qichong to find out what happened.”

The spokesperson acknowledged rumors circulating online that the deceased was wearing stockings and high heels and said that was true. “Some students have brought up the possibility that Peng may have had psychological issues,” the spokesperson added.

The case is still open, and how or why Peng died is unclear.

Also on Tuesday, a student from Shazhou Professional Institute of Technology, a technical college located in Jiangsu, identified by the last name Fu, went into the school dormitory with a fruit knife and stabbed a student identified by the last name Zeng. The local police quickly neutralized and apprehended Fu and began an investigation. The victim is recovering in the hospital.

Fu has been deeply depressed, according to the police’s preliminary investigation, and has thought about committing suicide in the past but lost resolve. He then decided to hurt others in order to relieve his own pressure. He saw Zeng alone in a room and stabbed him.

These sad endings of the lives of these bright young people have sparked debate all around the Web regarding deficiencies in China’s education system.