Last year at the end of June, a 28-year-old official from the government of Hengtang Town, Dong’an County, Hunan Province, drowned while fishing at the invitation of his colleagues. Evidence found in the deceased’s phone by his relatives showed that he was taken by leaders to use public funds for dining, drinking, gambling, and also borrowed 370,000 yuan from the bank, as well as falsifying accounts to embezzle public funds. Since July last year, the family’s reports and petitions have been unsuccessful. Recently, after the family disclosed the matter to the media and attracted public attention, a joint investigation team was finally established in the local area.
According to a report by Da Wan News on May 7th, Ms. Wang from Lingling District, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, recently told the media that her younger brother Wang Linming worked in the government of Hengtang Town, Dong’an County, holding positions such as duty secretary of the Party and government office, special cadre of comprehensive governance, and cadre of the Political Consultative Conference.
On June 30th last year (Monday), 28-year-old Wang Linming tragically drowned while fishing with colleagues from the Hengtang Town government.
Ms. Wang said that after checking her brother’s bank statement, she found that he owed the bank 370,000 yuan, but the statement did not indicate where the money went. When Wang Linming’s belongings were sorted by Wang Xiaoshun, his father, and Wang Linming, they finally understood where the money had gone.
“It took a long time to search, then his colleague mentioned the gambling among the government officials, so I checked the WeChat transfers on my brother’s phone and found out. My parents were even sued by the Dong’an Rural Commercial Bank.”
On October 31st, the Dong’an County People’s Court in Hunan Province issued a summons to Wang Xiaoshun: the plaintiff, Dong’an Rural Commercial Bank, requested Wang Linming’s parents, the defendants Wang Xiaoshun and Tang Shunying, to immediately repay the plaintiff’s loan principal of 365,000 yuan and interest of 4,170.26 yuan within the inheritance range of the deceased Wang Linming.
Wang Xiaoshun stated that from the information in the phone, it can be seen that his son was involved in gambling with cadres from Hengtang Town government, which was related to his huge debt. “Several leaders in the town have been involved in gambling for a long time and led Wang Linming to participate, which led to Wang Linming owing the bank 370,000 yuan, directly causing his economic and mental breakdown.”
Furthermore, evidence provided by Ms. Wang from the chat screenshots on Wang Linming’s phone showed that on the night of June 18, 2025, Wang Linming told someone through social software, “Recently, I’ve been a bit depressed, inexplicably received a punishment, the discipline inspection committee has talked to me several times, I have been feeling very down, don’t know who to talk to. Before in the office, the leader asked me to sign some documents, which was later found out during the audit. The county discipline inspection committee also interviewed me, implying that I intentionally utilized my power to fabricate accounts and obtain more money.”
When asked if he actually did it, he replied, “I only signed because the leaders asked me to, it’s not good to tell the Discipline Inspection Commission directly. The results came out in the past two days, initially it was quite serious, but probably because I didn’t say much, the leaders went easy on me, just gave me a warning talk, and I am not allowed to be promoted or transferred for half a year.”
As a handler, Wang Linming had been interviewed several times by the discipline inspection committee before the incident due to the problem of falsifying accounts.
In January this year, Ms. Wang found a lot of evidence of violations by leading cadres in the town in Wang Linming’s phone, and submitted it to the local discipline inspection commission and organization department.
These pieces of evidence included that when Wang Linming was the duty secretary of the Party and government office, he was often asked by the former Party secretary of Hengtang Town to accompany drinking. “There are many problems in Hengtang Town, including government officials gambling, using public funds for entertainment and dining. When Wang Linming was the duty secretary of the Party and government office, he falsified accounts to embezzle public funds.”
Back in July 2025, Wang Linming’s family went to the Yongzhou City Petitions Bureau, “The Hengtang Town government replied that he died accidentally while privately leaving, agreeing only to a basic pension of 210,000 yuan.” Therefore, on November 26, 2025, the family went to the Hunan Provincial Petitions Bureau for petition, but received no response after waiting for two months.
After the report of this incident, it has attracted widespread attention from netizens.
Netizens commented, “The young man was led astray.” “One must obey the leaders within the system! Helpless!” “Many grassroots are like this, a decade ago, an acquaintance in the hometown was also a village official and incurred debts from gambling, saying that gambling was necessary unless leaving the job.”
“Fishing together during working hours, and often playing cards for money, this job does seem enviable.” “Work is just about eating, drinking, and having fun.” “Using public funds for dining and drinking is very common.” “No wonder the competition for civil servants! Fishing, playing cards, gambling, so enjoyable.” “There were cases of drinking to death before, now there’s a fishing accident.”
“What happened in June 2025, nothing has come out a year later!” “It should be handled at a higher level across counties.”
On May 8th, the Joint Investigation Team of Dong’an County, Yongzhou, Hunan Province, announced that Wang died accidentally while fishing, ruling out the possibility of a criminal case. Regarding the allegations of illegal conduct by town cadres raised by the family, a joint investigation has been launched.
On the same day, Extreme Focus News published a commentary article stating that the reported former Party secretary of Hengtang Town, Yi, has been transferred, lateral promotion to deputy director at the Dong’an County government. No organizational handling or disciplinary demotion has been given to Yi, just the position change from a principal department to a deputy department. Has this been handled or not? It’s bewildering. The local organization department mentioned that they received the complaint materials from Wang Linming’s family last month, and the handling efficiency is indeed not optimistic.