A spate of recent campus deaths, some resulting from poisoning or stabbing by roommates, prompts reflection on the state of our much maligned education system.
Huang Yang, a graduate student at Fudan University Medical School, died of poisoning on April 16. He had been in a coma since April 1 after drinking water from a dispenser in his dormitory.
The suspect, one of Huang's roommates surnamed Lin, also a graduate student in medicine, apparently deliberately contaminated the water with a chemical taken from the university laboratory. Police said Lin bore a grudge against Huang over "trivial matters."
Both were said to be excellent students. Huang had already been admitted into a doctoral program prior to the poisoning.
Another death
Another death happened on April 16, in a campus of a college affiliated with Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
A student surnamed Yuan was playing a computer game when his roommate surnamed Jiang, who forgot his key, knocked on the door.
Too wrapped up in the game, Yuan did not open the door. When Jiang managed to get in and found Yuan there, they began trading bad words. In the ensuing scuffle, Yuan sank a fruit knife into Jiang's heart and killed him.
Both Yuan and Jiang had a good academic record. Apparently before the incident they were getting on well with other classmates, and probably with each other.
These university years are often known as a halcyon period in one's life, when earthly strife and troubles are yet unknown.
Local villagers climb mountains to get relief supplies