Zhu Ling, whose full name on the household registration is Zhu Lingling, is commonly referred to as Zhu Ling due to habit.

Zhu Ling was born on November 24, 1973. In 1992, she passed the entrance examination from Huwen High School in Beijing to the Department of Physical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis at Tsinghua University. During her time at the university, she was a member of the Tsinghua Folk Music Band and won the second prize in the solo performance category of the 1994 National University Art Performance Competition. She was also a second-level swimmer in Beijing.

Family Members:

Father: Wu Chengzhi (born XX, 1939), retired as a senior engineer from the China Earthquake Administration.

Mother: Zhu Mingxin (born XX, 1940), retired as a senior engineer from the China Ocean Shipping Company, awarded as a national expert with outstanding contributions.

Sister: Wu Jin (born XX, 1968), admitted to Peking University in 1987, died in a cliff fall accident in 1989, confirmed by the police as an accidental death. She was only nineteen years old.

From October 1994, Zhu Ling, a female student at Tsinghua University, experienced mysterious poisonings in her dormitory on campus, resulting in excruciating pain throughout her body. Despite extended hospital treatment, the cause remained undiagnosed for a considerable period. With the help of Zhuling’s high school classmates, Bei Zhicheng, who was then studying in the Mechanics department of Peking University, Bei and his fellow classmates utilized the internet to seek help worldwide. Eventually, the poisoning was diagnosed as thallium poisoning, and Zhu Ling’s life was saved through Prussian blue detoxification at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMC). However, due to the late confirmation of thallium poisoning, irreversible damage had already been done complete destruction of the nervous system, lifelong paralysis, intellectual decline, near-blindness, and other severe residual effects.

On April 28, 1995, during Zhu Ling’s second hospitalization at Peking Union Medical College Hospital due to illness, her parents managed to collect samples including skin, nails, strands of hair shed during her first episode of illness in December 1994, as well as blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and other specimens for testing. These samples were sent to the laboratory of Professor Chen Zhenyang at the Beijing Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment. Professor Chen Zhenyang confirmed that Zhu Ling was suffering from thallium poisoning, with thallium levels exceeding the lethal dose by more than 2000 times. Professor Chen believed that such a high dosage was not indicative of suicide but rather homicide, with the perpetrator likely administering the poison on two separate occasions. That night, Zhu Ling’s parents immediately reported the case to the Tsinghua University Security Department. The following morning, they requested the university to seal off Zhu Ling’s belongings on campus for further investigation. On May 7, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and the Tsinghua University Police Station initiated an investigation. Zhu Ling’s roommate at Tsinghua, Sun Wei (now known as Sun Shiyan); remained the sole suspect identified by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau’s investigation and was eventually brought into question April 2, 1997. After 8 hours of interrogation, she was mysteriously released. Upon graduation, Tsinghua University refused to issue her graduation certificate and degree certificate, but these were later issued in 1998. The investigation into the case has since made no progress.

On December 30, 2005, following Sun Wei’s statement regarding the article “Heaven Jealous of Beauty” on the Tianya Community, a wave of discussions erupted online. Bei Zhicheng also published an article and accepted an interview with Yi network, openly stating that the perpetrator was indeed Sun Wei. However, Sun Wei did not take any legal action against these accusations. Subsequently, numerous loopholes in Sun Wei’s statement were meticulously analyzed by many netizens from various professional perspectives, raising numerous questions, exposing numerous lies, and revealing a wealth of related information.

LI Shusen, the police officer who was previously responsible for investigating the Zhu Ling case, adopted a friendly attitude when receiving interview calls from reporters, stating, “There has been some conclusion in the investigation work. Personally, I would rather not answer; from the perspective of discipline of public security officers, it is not appropriate for me to express my opinion. If the leadership instructs me on how to speak to the media about certain matters, I will simply comply. This matter is very sensitive, and it has been such a long time…” On the evening of January 13, 2006, Li Shusen declined interviews, citing “some things are difficult to say, and cannot be said” as the reason.

• For more UpToDate information, please visit Helpzhuling Weibo site