On December 10, 2025, Wei Yarui, a 28-year-old history teacher from Lushan County, Pingdingshan, Henan, committed suicide by jumping from a building on her wedding day due to forced marriage. Prior to this, Wei Yarui had been pressured by her parents to marry since graduating from university. She once fiercely resisted, saying, “I argue, I make trouble, I go crazy, I even cut him with a knife, all for the sake of matchmaking and marriage.” However, in a capitalist patriarchal society, her resistance was suppressed by society, her parents, and the so-called “husband.” With no way out, Wei Yarui refused to surrender; she would rather die than become a family slave and sex object deprived of her dignity. Ultimately, she jumped to her death on her wedding day.
Over a hundred years ago, China experienced a suicide case of Ms. Zhao that was completely identical to Wei Yarui’s. On November 14, 1919, Zhao Wuzhen, a 21-year-old daughter of Zhao from Nanyang Street, Changsha, who was unhappy with her parents’ arranged marriage and had repeatedly resisted without success, took her own life by slitting her throat with a razor in her bridal sedan on her wedding day. The incident caused a strong social reaction; Changsha newspapers promptly reported the news and published articles discussing it. This event also angered the young Mao Zedong, who, within twelve days, published nine articles in newspapers and magazines such as Hunan’s Ta Kung Pao, under the names Xitang, Xincheng, and Mao Zedong, fiercely criticizing the oppressive feudal morals and old rituals.
Many women on platforms with a large number of Chinese female users are voluntarily studying comments about Ms. Zhao’s suicide written by Chairman Mao, and they strongly agree with Chairman Mao’s views.
A person’s suicide is entirely determined by their environment. Was Ms. Zhao’s original intention to seek death? No, it was to seek life. But Ms. Zhao ended up seeking death because the environment forced her to do so. Ms. Zhao’s environment includes: (1) Chinese society, (2) the Zhao family at Nanyang Street, Changsha, and (3) her unwilling husband’s family at Wu’s house in Juziyuan, Changsha. These three are like three iron nets, which can be imagined as a triangular device. Within this triangular iron net, no matter how she struggles to survive, there is no way to live. Life faces death, and thus Ms. Zhao died.
Wei Yarui’s suicide was also entirely driven by the environment she lived in. It is said that she was forced into the wedding car by pressing her head. Wei Yarui’s environment includes: (1) Chinese society. Since the restoration of the capitalist system in China, women have lost the equal participation in social labor and non-discriminatory treatment they had during the socialist period. Due to physiological conditions, women are always marginalized during the large-scale capitalist production. Meanwhile, to suppress the resistance of the Chinese people, the Chinese ruling class emphasizes promoting male dominance ideology and cultivating male chauvinists, who oppress and exploit women. Women are harassed and molested everywhere in this society. (2) Her vampiric parents. As the daughter of the family, Wei Yarui was merely a disposable commodity sold by her family. In their eyes, she was just a tool to exchange for money to arrange her brother’s marriage. Her family forced her to marry a man she disliked and collected 270,000 yuan in bride price. (3) Her unwilling husband’s family. In a capitalist patriarchal society, the family is the basic economic unit of personal life. Her husband’s family treated Wei Yarui as a reproductive tool, buying her with money, hoping she would “continue the family line.” Wei Yarui’s so-called husband was just a man who bought her to be a family slave and sexual tool at will.
After Wei Yarui jumped from the building, no one took her body. The owner of the first floor refused to move the body, citing that “blood in the new house affects the property value,” and demanded compensation. The woman’s family said “she was already married out,” while the man’s family said “they haven’t married her in yet.” Wei Yarui’s body lay in the yard for nearly a day until December 11, when it was finally taken to the funeral home. Truly a pack of bloodthirsty wolves and tigers devouring human flesh and blood!
