In 2023, Peking University, the birthplace of Chinese communism, was in mourning over the deaths of dozens of professors who had played a formative role in shaping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. Although China had recently lifted its strict zero-COVID measures and reopened its society, the university continued to experience a fresh wave of obituaries, indicating that the virus was still taking a toll on some of the prominent members of communism’s leadership.
Official reports revealed that in 2023, at least 72 professors from Peking University had died, most of whom were loyal CCP cadres. The deaths reflected the ongoing consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the CCP had been reluctant to disclose data about infections and deaths, leaving epidemiologists and Western media to piece together the situation from obituaries.
Peking University had a significant place in the history of the CCP, serving as the base for China’s earliest communists and Marxists. Hundreds of party members have worked or studied at the university, including political figures such as former premier Li Keqiang and Zhao Leji, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
The university suffered a significant blow after China’s zero-COVID policies were lifted in December 2022, without adequate precautions or medical preparations. In the resulting surge of COVID-19 cases, Peking University experienced a sharp increase in deaths among its faculty members. The trend continued throughout 2023, with 72 professors dying, most of them loyal CCP cadres.
The list of the deceased included renowned figures from various academic fields such as medicine, law, international relations, Marxism studies, and more. The deaths of these politically active faculty members were a loss to the Party, as many of them were members of minor political parties that followed and served the CCP’s rules, adding a veneer of pluralism to the autocratic regime.