In recent times, the suspicious case of a deputy chairman of the county CPPCC who fell to his death a few years ago has once again sparked attention and discussions due to the investigation of another deputy director of the Public Security Bureau. An informant from Shanxi told Epoch Times that similar situations have occurred in Shanxi as well, including cases where provincial officials died before being investigated and family members were unable to access large overseas deposits.
On December 3, a netizen named “Yun Cheng Fa Fen” on the Chinese social platform “Zhihu” mentioned that three or four years ago, an investigated deputy chairman of the county CPPCC was remembered by local residents to have fallen from upstairs shortly after the investigation. The author of the post mentioned that the nephew-in-law of the official in question, who worked at the county hospital along with the author’s family, had been queuing for years, and after the incident of falling, related matters “were resolved” (referring to the sudden resolution of long-standing queue wait for job placement or positions).
Some residents mentioned that this incident has been talked about in the county in recent years, especially those who were queuing for regular status changes, had a deep impression of the changes in the nephew-in-law of the official after the incident. It was also said that at the time, the authorities did not explain the situation, and the event only ended with “the person has died.”
Last year, another deputy director of the county Public Security Bureau was investigated. The post claimed that during the review process, the deputy director reported to the higher authorities that the official who died falling from the building years ago was not actually him but a mentally disturbed person brought from a neighboring county to act as the deceased and was pushed down the building; it also said that the police later brought the relevant officials back from Guangdong. The post ended by saying that local residents felt their eyes were opened upon hearing these statements.
These rumors have sparked discussions within WeChat groups, with many exclaiming “eye-opening.” Mr. Liu, a netizen from Jiangsu, told reporters, “What was thought to be a closed case suddenly resurfaces due to another person being investigated, and this kind of situation is not uncommon in many places.” He also mentioned some folk rumors, including individual corrupt officials possibly finding a “stand-in” to escape. “There is a saying that homeless people are brought to tall buildings and pushed down, and the police quickly cremate the bodies. The person then runs away overseas to reunite with their family.”
A source familiar with the situation in Shanxi, Ms. Li Xue (pseudonym), revealed to reporters that a vice-provincial-level official she knew passed away around 2016 due to heart disease. The official had a substantial amount of funds deposited in HSBC in Hong Kong and also kept cash hidden in a rented house abroad. She said, “My friend had her late husband’s HSBC bank card but did not know the password. During his lifetime, he would bring back a black plastic bag filled with cash from outside every month as family expenses. He only mentioned that the money was kept in a rented house but did not specify the exact location.”
She continued, saying that for years, her friend had been to Hong Kong with her husband’s passport to inquire about the account but was refused by the bank citing personal privacy. “After the vice-provincial-level official passed away, his wife was not clear on the location of the funds and the account holder’s name. My friend had asked her late husband several times where the money was, and he only said, ‘You’ll be implicated in the future, it’s not good.'”
At the request of the interviewee, the reporter is unable to disclose the name and details of the official.
Cases where officials fell from buildings after being dismissed have occurred in several places in China. Residents often compile such incidents into local folklore and share them online. Public information shows that several officials in the county have been investigated in recent years, leading to repeated discussions online involving duties, personnel arrangements, and relationships with hospitals or local institutions.
Scholar Wang Qian, who resides in Europe, stated in an interview that such posts reflect the information gap in local communities. “Whenever an official falls from a building or is dismissed, new versions emerge locally, some based on personal experiences, some on speculation, and some from the events themselves, but the common point is limited public information.”
Public information shows that since 2020, several Chinese Communist Party officials have died after falling from buildings, ranging from central enterprise department-level officials to local bureau-level and county-level officials. Some cases have been classified in obituaries as “personal reasons” or “depression,” while some are considered victims in criminal cases. Some notable cases include Chen Fenjian, chairman of China Railway Construction, Qian Feng, former deputy director of Huangshan City Public Security Bureau, who fell to his death; Wen Dongxu, director of the Guangxi Drug Administration Bureau, who fell in his home; Liu Wenjie, director of the Hunan Provincial Finance Department, along with two others, who died together; Lin Shengkui, director of the Fujian Province Health Insurance Bureau, who fell in his home; and Li Shengping, head of the Discipline Inspection Office of Ningyuan County, Hunan, who was reported to have died at the office. Due to the lack of unified statistics, most related cases remain at a brief notification level, making it difficult for the public to grasp the overall situation.