At least eight professors and staff members of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music died due to a COVID spike that started in December last year and continued into January 2023. The deaths included three Chinese Communist Party (CCP) branch secretaries.
On Jan. 24, Sha Hankun, a former deputy secretary of the party branch and deputy head of the composition department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, died at the age of 96 at the Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University in Shanghai due to “illness,” said the official obituary, which, as per usual practice, avoided mentioning the COVID-induced death.
Sha is not alone. In January, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music released a string of obituaries, involving associate professor Qin Youfei, former party secretary of the piano department, who died on Jan. 8 at Xuhui District Central Hospital at the age of 88; Zhou Lude, former associate professor of the department of composition and conduct, who died on Jan. 7 at Zhongshan Hospital at the age of 93; Chen Dawei, former branch secretary of the orchestra department died on Jan. 4 at Shanghai Chest Hospital at the age of 85; and Weng Zhen, former director of the department of the armed forces and director of the security department, passed away on Jan. 3 at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital at the age of 92….