On March 12, 2008, a 61-year-old man, surnamed Xie, died from a heart attack at the Stock Exchange in Chongqing City, located on Yangjiaping Pedestrian Street. According to Xie’s wife, Xie bought 250,000 yuan in stocks last year, but the value of the stocks has since dropped by 80 percent, and they are now only worth 50,000 yuan.
According to the March 13 edition of the Chongqing Times, an eyewitness surnamed Li said that Xie walked into the building on the morning of March 12. He took a seat near the window to view the digital display board. Mr. Li also noticed that Xie’s fists were clenched. At about 10:10 a.m., Xie was heard to exclaim: “It’s dropping again, it’s dropping again!” He repeated the phrase several times. Shortly afterward, he was seen leaning to the right. He then fell onto the shoulder of a nearby person.
An ambulance was called, and at 10:30, doctors from the First People’s Hospital of Jiulongpo District arrived. Xie was pronounced dead at the scene.
On-duty security officers located his identification card and then notified his family and the police.
At 11 a.m., Mrs. Xie arrived. Bursting into tears, she related their stock trading experience. Upon his retirement last year, Mr. Xie had bought 250,000 yuan in stocks.
Shortly thereafter, the market began to steadily decline, until the stocks were only worth 50,000 yuan. Mr. Xie had been under a lot of pressure because of the losses.
The police arrived around noon to investigate. Xie’s body was removed a short time later.
The overall Chinese stock market index has dropped by more than 20 percent over the past three months, which is more than one third from its peak in October 2007. In the meantime, the consumer price index increased by 8.7 percent in February—its greatest increase in 12 years. These factors have played a part in triggering serious concerns about inflation.
