You excelled in English; you excelled in piano too, but we did not have the least idea about the magnitude of your excellence. At that age, a talent was not to be shown to the public, nor to be promoted. In the end you went to Beijing, the Capital. You turned into such a young but remarkably popular pianist glittering your glory beside the very mage-super-star you played for.

Then I saw your name online, and I saw your photo. The report was not about your concert. You jumped out of your 17th-floor apartment at age of 51, the very best time of your life, your career. The cruelty of your death broke my heart!
I never felt so stunned; my heart went out to your mom, your wife and your child. I felt sad for your students and audience as well. But nothing made my blood boiling hotter when I read from the report that that said that the cause of his suicide was depression.

Where did your depression come from? How your depression climaxed to the point that you had to make the jump? These seemed to be the questions someone else asked here.

About two months passed, I am still asking why. What pushed you down to such a tragic death? Why you would give up your music, your career, your teaching you so devoted for? Why you would give up your family, why you would give up all your responsibilities, your fortune and fame? Why? Your last performance just did not match the descriptions given by your friends, colleagues and students as reported. Apart from your glorious achievements, you were saluted as a great father, a great mentor, a humble man, a scholar, a performer, someone who committed himself to promoting Western opera music in China.

Then I read several messages/comments that shredded my heart and chilled my soul. One message said that your contract with THE top Chinese musical institute was going to expire soon. Contract renewal with a foreign teacher was supposed to be taken place three months before the expiration date of the current contract, according to the rule. So why your contract was not renewed even you reportedly went to talk to the school on the renewal issue?
One comment said that your contract term said any 3-day consecutive sick leave is considered to be voluntary termination of the contract by the party taken the sick leave. This clause made you unable to take any sick leave when you needed; you even could not let your sickness be known. The anonymous comment cried out loud that you “were literally put to the suffering that led to your death.”

Someone aid that you were subject to naked punishment. What did naked punishment mean? But how could all these be real? How could I possibly reconcile these horrifying disclosure and the music you played, the titles you owned, master and PhD from prestigious schools in the United States of America, top national opera art director, a professor at the top Chinese musical institute, a performer who played for more than 100 best vocal artists worldwide?

The official report had one sub-headline saying you were an honest man who loved music and life. What am I getting between these words? Honest people in China mean the weak and the defendless? What was the fate designed for the honest man in China? Honest people ended up in being a victimized. But here I have to ask, must this norm apply to an honest man who happened to be one of the brilliant talents in the country, the “No. 1 Chinese Piano Accompaniment in the World”?

The comments gave me pieces for a puzzle that I am unable to put together. Will there be anyone in China to take a closer look into this maestro’s death, any journalists, and the police? How I would like to learn the truth! And yet, what could undo what was already done? A Chinese is a Chinese, one of the billion. A national top pianist seemed to be no more than workers at Apple production line; they were all so depressed that they had to jump out of the buildings to end their lives.

A week following your horrific death came the Dragon-Boat Festival, a tradition to commemorate Qu Yuan, one of the greatest poets in Chinese history who threw himself into the Miluo River some 2000 years ago. While Qu Yuan may be the first in written history who had to die to keep sober in his drunken world, Wu Long would not be the last who had to die as an honest man in his same drunken world. When we throw the leaf-wrapping sticky rice into the Miluo River, when we race the dragon-boat, we are commemorating thousands Chinese who chose to be the sober ones in his world, that including Wu Long, the Maestro.

May music and peace be always with you!