Photo: IC

Aeschylus was an ancient Greek playwright who is credited by some as having invented the genre of tragedy. Legend goes that the dramatist was killed when a flying eagle, mistaking his bald head for a rock, dropped a turtle on him.

It has also been reported that Weng Mao, former president of Shanghai-based food giant Gysgroup, sadly met a similar fate on April 19 when he was apparently killed while visiting a tourist attraction in Central China's Henan Province by a rock-kicking monkey.

According to a statement, which has been circulating online since April 21 and was allegedly published by the Yuntai mountain tourism administration, Weng's head was struck by a rock kicked by one of the monkeys that inhabit the mountain. Weng later died at the hospital.

Bright Food Group, which owns Gysgroup, confirmed Weng's death with the media on Friday.

However, local authorities have not confirmed whether the rock that killed Weng was actually kicked by a monkey.

Reports about Weng's unusual death have spread wildly across Chinese social media with some speculating that he might have been murdered by business rivals.

Meanwhile, research conducted by news site xinmin.cn showed that besides Weng, at least 72 Chinese billionaires have died prematurely since 2003.

Worked to death 

Based on media reports, 19 of the billionaires died of illness, accounting for 26 percent. Among them, most died of heart disease and strokes while seven died of cancer. The average life span of these 19 billionaires was 48 years old with the youngest dying at just 37.

Ding Chunsheng, director of Northeast China's Jilin provincial heath education center, said that the average life span of Chinese people is over 70 years old and many billionaires become ill as they neglect to exercise and rest.

A total of 17 Chinese billionaires died of suicide, with the average age at the time of death in this group being 50 years old. Seven people including Shao Hexie, president of a Jiangxi-based real estate group, chose to hang themselves while another five including general manager of a Heilongjiang-based venture investment company jumped off buildings. The other four ended their lives by jumping into water or taking poison.

The report said that some of them committed suicide due to depression while others chose to kill themselves out of business problems or fear of being prosecuted for crimes.

According to the report, 15 were murdered at an average age  of 44. For example, Li Haicang, head of Haixin Steel Group in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, was gunned down in his office because he refused to satisfy his friend's demands. while Chen Qingxin, president of a Sichuan-based real estate enterprise, was killed by hitmen hired by a debtor. 

Legal punishment

Among the 72 billionaires who have died in the last 13 years, 14 were sentenced to death. Their average age was 42. Some of them were involved in "illegally gathering funds" and fraud while some of them went to extreme and immoral lengths to add to their fortunes. For example, Wu Tianxi, general manager of Jiadong Food Group, was executed for raping 24 underage girls as he believed that having sex with virgins could bring good luck and wealth.

Another seven were found to have died in accidents. Among the 72 dead billionaires, 70 were men, which Ding said that showed that women have stronger ability to deal with pressure and setbacks.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2016, there are 2,188 billionaires globally from 68 countries, an increase of 99 people compared to last year. Eight billionaires from the Chinese mainland are among the top 100 wealthiest people.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates remains on top with $80 billion, with investor Warren Buffett in second place with $68 billion. Wang Jianlin of the Wanda Group replaced Li Ka-shing as the richest Chinese with $26 billion. Beijing became the billionaire capital of the world for the first time.

A special report from Hurun in 2015 also showed that between 1999 and 2013, 34 of the 2,188 Chinese billionaires on the list had committed crimes, with 27 sentenced to jail.


Newspaper headline: Buried billionaires