Wang Dongsheng, the former chief of Drago county, died on Jan 16, 2024, according to Chinese authorities and two other sources. At right, the 99-foot Buddha statue that was destroyed in Drago county is shown sheltered by a white canopy in this undated photo. (RFA, left, and citizen journalist)
A Chinese government official of Tibetan ethnicity who approved the destruction of a huge Buddha statue died after falling from the fifth floor of a mall in Chengdu, according to a statement issued by local Chinese authorities and two sources inside Tibet.
Wang Dongsheng, 53, “died on the spot” after the fall on Tuesday, local authorities said in a statement. How he fell and the official cause of his death was still under investigation.
The two sources in Tibet, who requested that they not be named for safety reasons, also told Radio Free Asia that he died immediately after the fall.
In 2021, Wang was named the chief of Drago county, a Tibetan-majority area of eastern Tibet, where he directed the demolition of the 30-meter (99-foot) Buddha statue following official complaints that it had been built too high.
Local authorities in Chengdu and representatives of the Chengdu Microscopic Hand and Foot Surgery Hospital, where sources said Wang’s body was taken, didn’t immediately respond to RFA’s requests for comment.
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