Chinese man praised as being an 'example to everyone' after working himself to death

Chinese financial regulators say one of their staff who worked himself to death by regularly staying in the office until midnight before collapsing from the stress of trying to get a report done on deadline is "an example to everyone". Li Jianhua, 48, worked for the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission for 26 years and was found dead in front of his completed report after working through the night to meet the early morning deadline.

Now a statement by the regulatory commissions management committee has praised the dead man as an example that everybody else should follow. China is facing an epidemic of overwork, yet far from tackling the problem, it is seemingly being actively encouraged if one looks at the statement from the dead man's employers.



They said: "We can all learn from Comrade Li Jianhua, who always had firm ideals and beliefs, who showed that he was an employee who was loyal to the cause of the Party and the people, who gave an unremitting struggle to perform his best and to sacrifice everything. It was done with the goal of enhancing the quality of our work. Comrade Li Jianhua did long overtime, night and day, and put all his energy and passion into the regulatory business."

About 600,000 Chinese a year die from working too hard, with a daily death toll of 1,600. There are even words in Asia for death-by-overtime: "guolaosi" in Chinese and "karoshi" in Japanese. An employee in Li’s department said they all regularly worked until midnight or later. Li apparently had an attack of shingles, often related to stress, in the days before he died but did not go to the doctor because "he didn’t have any time."