Shi Shengrong 
Death of a Professor 

Dong Xuechao, the protagonist of The Death of a Professor, was an ordinary university teacher. He was nobody before being abandoned by his wife, who was the director of a bank. Dong vowed to change his life and managed to climbs up. Through using his research results as a gift, he successfully attached himself to the university principal and became one of the principal”s research workers and loyal followers. Thus he was put in an important position by the principal with a rising official title and executive power. He then gained new lovers due to the robust career and was immersed in the joy of success and power. As a result, he could not get out and worked harder and harder. The greater his power became, the more skillful he became in academics, the richer his gains were in fame and fortune. Just like being tied to a chariot of fame and fortune, Dong could not stop for a single moment and had to keep struggling in the name of doing academic researches. It seemed that he got addicted to such struggle and became increasingly insatiable, trying to seize everything valuable and never gave up. However, the more he got, the heavier the burden became. The battle in the officialdom, the confusion on academics, and the twisted relationship among several women have made him suffer so much and fell sick from overwork. Finally, tortured by the hardship in fighting for the position of vice-principal and the pressure given by two of his lovers, he had an sudden death at the gate of the Organization Department.