Professor Tou Jiguang of the College of Arts of Sichuan Normal University died in a bizarre fall on the morning of the 18th. (Photo source: Weibo)
A well-known Chinese communication scholar and professor of Sichuan Normal University’s College of Arts, Tou Jiguang, was rumored to have fallen to his death from a building on campus on the morning of 18th. It is reported that Tou had reported in October 2020 the problem of officials abusing their jobs and violently demolishing citizens’ legal properties in real names.
On January 18, 2021, the news about Sichuan Normal University Professor Tou Jiguang fell to his death spread on several social media platforms, after which the Lishan Police Station of the Jinjiang District Branch of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau confirmed to the mainland media “Caijing” that a teacher of Sichuan Normal University did fall to his death at 8:00 a.m. That day, the police investigated and examined the scene, excluding criminal cases, the details are under further investigation
In the afternoon of the same day, Tou’s wife Li Ying also confirmed the above news, saying that Tou Jiguang went out around 7:50 a.m., and not long after she heard the sad news that her husband had fallen from the 10th floor of the Tianjiaping Building of Sichuan Normal University, and his body is currently parked in the Chengdu East Suburban Funeral Hall.
Radio Free Asia reports that although officials are doing their best to maintain stability and pressurize informants to keep their mouths shut, Tou Jiguang’s close friends believe that Tou’s fall may be related to the forced entry of his home; former colleagues of Tou Jiguang, who worked in the media, also confirmed that Tou Jiguang had reported officials in Chengdu in real names. But the surface of government departments talk sense to you, but behind the scenes, they use triad tactics, “He (Tou Jiguang) is a doctor of literature, after a doctorate in law, there is no way.”
Zhanjiang, a well-known scholar, had also forwarded the posting of Tou Jiguang’s real-name report of his family’s encounter with forced demolition. According to Zhanjiang, who has known Tou Jiguang for many years, “he is a man with a great sense of justice, deep social concern, humorous language expression, very talented, and serious about academics, and we all think he gets along well and is a decent person.” Before TOU publicly reported officials violently demolished people’s houses, he was rarely heard to mention the matter, “but we often saw him not looking too good, with a sense of exhaustion, after all, was troubled by the demolition of things for a long time.”
A review of the information found that Tou Jiguang has been defending his rights, and more than three months ago, he publicly reported online the district chief of Chenghua District in Chengdu City, Pu Fayou abuse of duty, violent demolition of citizens’ legitimate property. He mentioned in the letter that since 2011, his family’s two homes in Chenghua District’s Qinglongchang and Wannianchang suffered simulated evictions, and that during the demolition process, demolition workers have used threats, siege, suppression with the help of work units, and Internet rumors and slander to try to force a contract with them, “but the family eventually resisted the pressure and did not give in” ; Finally, Pu Fayou presided over the executive meeting of the district government, in the absence of a signed demolition agreement, did not start the expropriation, did not apply for judicial forced demolition, etc., the deployment of the two sets of housing is a different force demolition.
Also according to the Chinese media, Professor Tou Jiguang pseudonym Ma Zhiyuan, doctor of literature, post-doctoral journalism and communication, post-doctoral law, professor of Sichuan Normal University, the first level of Sichuan Normal University 251 key talent project selected, but also the only selected journalism and communication discipline, mainly engaged in communication theory, literature and media research, part-time researcher at the National Innovation Base for Journalism and Communication and Mediated Society Research of Fudan University, the Ministry of Education humanities and social science planning project review experts, practicing lawyers, etc..
During his lifetime, Tou Jiguang published more than 200 academic papers in academic journals such as International Journalism, Modern Communication, China Television, Journalism University, Journalist, Journal of Shanghai Sports Institute, Nanjing Social Science, etc., including more than 130 papers in core journals of Peking University and more than 60 papers in authoritative journals and CSSCI source journals as the first author or independent author.
After Tou Jiguang’s accident, teachers within Sichuan Normal University were suspected of being pressured, and their colleagues took an evasive attitude toward the incident; the propaganda department of the Chengdu Municipal Party Committee said it was unaware of the incident and had not previously obtained any relevant information; and the Chengdu Chenghua District government refused to make any response.
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