[The Epoch Times, December 31, 2022](Reported by Epoch Times reporter Tong Yijia) On December 30, the Beijing Film Academy issued an “obituary”, announcing that Xu Tongjun, a famous director and professor of the Directing Department of the Beijing Film Academy, will die on December 20, 2022. Died of illness at the age of 76.
The belated “obituary” stated that according to Xu Tongjun’s last wish, the family members decided to keep the funeral simple and not hold a farewell ceremony. He also explained that Xu Tongjun’s body had been cremated, and the college would hold memorial activities at an “appropriate” time next year.
Although the “obituary” did not specify the specific cause of the disease, Nortel professor Wu Qiong bluntly stated in his condolences that “it hurts more than when he was infected with the epidemic”, which seems to imply that Xu Tongjun died of the epidemic.
Director Xie Fei revealed in his condolences that Xu Tongjun also gave lectures in public in October this year, and his body looked healthy at that time. The sudden death of Xu Tongjun made Xie Fei call out “this is really the darkest moment in the epidemic period”. Another netizen left a message confirming that he went to attend Xu Tongjun’s class in September. He didn’t expect him to leave so suddenly, and he didn’t hear that he had any serious illness before his death. People speculate that Xu Tongjun may have died of the epidemic. The land media “Sina.com” directly reported on “Director Xu Tongjun died of the epidemic”.
According to the data, Xu Tongjun graduated from the acting department of Beijing Academy of Arts in 1966. In 1978, he was transferred to teach in the directing department of Beijing Film Academy. The professional course is the mentor of famous directors such as Tian Zhuangzhuang, Chen Kaige, Lou Ye, Wang Xiaoshuai, Han Sanping, Huang Jianxin, Guan Hu, etc. After retiring, Xu Tongjun also taught for a long time in the advanced courses of the director department, and was employed by Qingdao Film Academy (formerly Beijing Film Academy Qingdao Modern Creative Media Academy) as the director of directing.
While teaching, Xu Tongjun also directed many film and television dramas with the main theme. For example, in 1986, “Zhenzhen’s Hair House” won the “Excellent Film Award of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television” of that year, and then directed “AIDS Patient”, “Desert Enmity” and many other red movies. TV dramas such as “Oh, Kunlun”, “Love Stories in the Hutong”, and “The Man of Muyun” directed by him won the official “Flying Award”. In addition, Xu Tongjun also served as the official judge of the “China Music Video Awards” and “TV Documentary Awards” based on the so-called “political criteria first, artistic criteria second”.
Recently, the CCP has shifted from “dynamically zeroing out” in the past three years to a full liberalization, and failed to make proper preparations, leading to a surge in the number of infections and deaths. Not only the entertainment industry, but also the scientific and technological circles, medical circles, and government agencies have frequently reported the death of celebrities, but the official secrets about the cause of death of these people have been kept secret.
On December 27, the National Health and Medical Commission of the Communist Party of China stated at a press conference on the epidemic that there were no large-scale severe deaths in the first wave of the peak impact, which aroused strong doubts and criticisms from the Chinese people. At the same time, funeral homes in mainland China issued an emergency notice to block news of the death from the epidemic.
Editor in charge: Han Yu