An associate professor at China's Yan'an University committed suicide and left a bloody suicide note complaining about the assessment system and chaos on campus.

Bai Baoguo, a 54-year-old associate professor at the Lu Xun Art College of Yan'an University in China, committed suicide and left a suicide note accusing the school of chaos and the assessment system.

Bai Baoguo, a 54-year-old associate professor in the Piano Department of Lu Xun Art College of Yan'an University in Shaanxi Province, China, received a notice from the school in September last year stating that he had not completed the assessment indicators for two consecutive terms of employment and would be demoted or transferred. However, in October this year, it was reported that Bai Baoguo drowned himself in a lake and left a suicide note in which he complained about the chaos in the school and the assessment system.

Based on reports from Chinese media and Weibo articles, Bai Baoguo criticized the school's unreasonable assessment in his suicide note, such as setting a quota for scientific research funds. In actual practice, teachers often need to raise funds themselves to manufacturers, and then the industry transfers it to the school, creating the illusion that funds are credited. The assessment also stipulates the number of papers to be published, so teachers are forced to choose to pay for publication under pressure.

Bai Baoguo criticized Yan'an University's assessment system as a fraud based on the "Emperor's New Clothes" approach. Therefore, in his suicide note, he reported the school's leaders in charge of personnel, research, and annual assessments, as well as the person in charge of the Lu Xun Art Institute, and disclosed that there were "empty pay (taking money and not working)" in the school.

The accusation that Bai Baoguo paid for with his life immediately attracted attention on the Internet. Many netizens believed that there was indeed a problem with the assessment system of Chinese universities. In response, the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education stated today (4th) that it is already handling matters related to the Bai Baoguo incident.