Beijing University’s Associate Professor Chen Hao, who specialized in the history of science, technology, and medicine, has passed away at the age of 42. The cause of death is currently unknown, leading to speculation. In recent years, there have been several sudden deaths of young scholars in the Chinese academic community.
On April 18th, Beijing University’s official WeChat account released an obituary revealing the news of Chen Hao’s passing, but did not mention the date or cause of death.
However, according to the Beijing University’s Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Chen Hao was originally planning to attend a seminar titled “The Ultimate of the World: Changes in the Concept of World Pivot Historically and Today” on April 19th at Beijing University. This indicates that Chen Hao’s death must have been sudden in recent days.
Furthermore, some netizens remarked, “I saw the announcement from Beida (Peking University) on April 15th about Mr. Chen participating in an event. It’s too sudden.” Another netizen confirmed that it was indeed a “sudden” occurrence.
The obituary states that Chen Hao, an historian of the post-80s generation, was only 42 years old. He graduated with a Ph.D. in History from Peking University in 2011, taught at the School of History at Renmin University of China, and returned to Beijing University in 2021 to teach in the Department of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. His research interests included studying how ancient Chinese society coped with disasters such as epidemics and collective trauma, and reevaluating the history of East Asian animals and humans in the context of major epidemics over the past 20 years. He also taught a course on “Historical Writing in the Era of COVID-19.”
The obituary released by Beijing University has sparked various speculations among netizens online.
After reading the obituary, one netizen commented, “There is no mention of condolences or the cause of death in the entire text. It’s hard to believe that this was issued by Beijing University with such a level of discretion.” Another netizen posted, “Illness? Accident? Homicide? The basic requirements of a primary school composition – time, place, people, events, causes, results.”
Another informed source revealed that Chen Hao allegedly passed away due to a cerebral infarction. Netizens expressed concern, “There have been far too many sudden deaths of middle-aged individuals in the past two years.”
This year, there have been continuous reports of the untimely deaths of middle-aged scholars in the Chinese academic community. Just recently, there were several cases, including:
On April 16th, Professor Shan Chengbin from the Research Institute of Confucian Studies at Shandong University passed away in Jinan at the age of 60 due to illness. Shan Chengbin had previously served as the chief editor of the series of books titled “Telling China’s Stories”.
On April 8th, Li Haibo, a professor at Ningxia University and a top expert in optoelectronics in China, passed away at the age of 41 due to a sudden illness.
On April 1st, Zhang Jinlei, an associate professor at the Faculty of Law at Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, suddenly passed away at the age of 46.
On March 27th, Zhou Jianfeng, a renowned hematologist in China, passed away at the age of 56 due to a spontaneous coronary artery dissection.
On March 18th, Cheng Peng, the former deputy secretary of the Party Committee and associate professor in the Department of Automation at Tsinghua University, passed away at the age of 48 due to illness.
On March 20th, Bai Xiaohui, the deputy director of the Laboratory Medicine Department at Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated with Shandong First Medical University, suddenly passed away at the age of 42. Clinical experts preliminarily diagnosed it as sudden cardiac death.
On March 5th, Liu Yongfeng, a well-known materials scientist in China and a professor at Zhejiang University, passed away at the age of 47 due to a sudden cerebral hemorrhage.