News of the suicide last week of Xu Huaiqian (徐怀谦), the chief editor of the Earth (大地) supplement of the Party’s official People’s Daily, has prompted a burst of discussion on Chinese social media of the extraordinary pressures facing journalists in China today. According to Chinese news reports and accounts shared on Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, Xu, 45, died on August 22 after jumping from a building. Remembered by colleagues from media across the country as a professional and principled journalist, Xu is said to have suffered serious mental health problems in recent months.
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