In March 2008, Li Guofu was found dead in a prison clinic. The local procurator said Li hanged himself. But Li's family did not buy into it.
Li was arrested because he had repeatedly filed charges against local officials of illegally appropriating land and building luxury office buildings. One of these buildings is for a district government office nicknamed "the White House". It actually looks like the Capitol.
After Li's death, his family raised many questions: How come there were bruises on his body? How could he hang himself from a beam that was no higher than himself? Where did he get the strip of cloth used around his neck? And why did the death certificate say it's a rope not cloth?
Before the truth of Li's death could be independently corroborated, the most accurate description may well be "Li Guofu was self-killed".
The Chinese verb for "committing suicide" is literally "self-kill". So, when we say "Someone self-killed", it means "Someone killed himself". But what does it mean when the sentence is twisted into "Li Guofu was self-killed"? In Chinese, it's "Li Guofu bei self-killed."
The Chinese word "bei" is the usual equivalent to translate an English verb of passive voice. But when a normal act has the possibility of being forced or coerced, bei is added before the verb, against grammatic convention, to convey this added layer of meaning. This has caught on and become a meme.
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