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Description
Title李子敬投井自殺案
Short title查投井自殺
archiveID192
DateThursday 16 August 1945
Year1945
Author上海特別市第一警察局虹口分局; 上海地方檢察署
Role (author of)Police investigation; reporting of non-natural death; witness interrogation; judicial inquest; medico-legal examination
Series Number/IDShanghai Municipal Archives
Box numberR44-2
File numberR44-2-6103
Number of pages9
Abstract

Dossier concerning Li Zijing (李子敬), a 33-year-old man employed as a worker at Mitsubishi (三菱洋行) in Pudong, whose death in Shanghai on 16 August 1945 was investigated as suicide by jumping into a well. The police non-natural death report records his residence as No. 110, Qipu Road (七浦路一一○號) and identifies this location as the site connected with the death. His wife, Li Fengshi (李馮氏), is recorded as the person responsible for receiving the body.

The police investigation provides evidence concerning Li's health immediately before his death. He had reportedly suffered for approximately two weeks from a condition described as 寒熱症 (recurrent fever/chills) and had undergone treatment without recovering. The police narrative further describes his condition in contemporary language as resembling 神經病亂狀, indicating apparent mental or nervous disturbance, and associates this condition with the circumstances preceding his suicide.

Testimony from Yang Dongzai (楊冬仔), who shared the premises with Li, confirms that Li had been ill with 寒熱症 for about two weeks and had repeatedly sought treatment without recovering. On the evening of 16 August, Yang noticed that Li was missing, searched for him, and eventually discovered his body in the well. Li was removed from the well but was already dead. The police were then notified and the body sent for examination.

The dossier subsequently passed to the prosecutorial authorities for formal medico-legal examination. The examination identifies the deceased as 李子敬, male, aged 33, and the final forensic conclusion gives 溺水身死—death by drowning.

Comment

Predominantly handwritten Chinese documents on printed police and judicial forms. The archival heading classifies the case simply as 投井自殺. The file is relatively short but provides comparatively useful evidence about the deceased's physical and mental condition immediately before the suicide. Both the police investigation and witness testimony establish that Li had been suffering from 寒熱症 for approximately two weeks and had failed to recover despite treatment.

The police narrative also employs the expression 神經病亂狀 to characterize his behavior or condition and describes the emergence of suicidal thoughts in connection with his illness. This terminology should be retained as a contemporary description rather than converted into a specific modern psychiatric diagnosis. Illness and apparent mental disturbance can therefore be catalogued as documented circumstances surrounding the suicide, while avoiding presenting either as a conclusively demonstrated single cause. The police classification establishes suicide by jumping into a well, whereas the medico-legal finding establishes the physiological cause of death more narrowly as drowning (溺水身死).

Keywords (en)suicide; suicide by drowning; jumping into a well; drowning; well; recurrent fever; fever and chills; physical illness; mental disturbance; nervous disorder; men; industrial worker; Mitsubishi; witness testimony; death investigation; judicial inquest; cor
Keywords (fr)suicide; suicide par noyade; suicide dans un puits; noyade; puits; fièvre récurrente; fièvre et frissons; maladie physique; troubles mentaux; troubles nerveux; hommes; ouvrier; Mitsubishi; témoignage; enquête sur un décès; enquête judiciaire; exam
SubjectSuicide; drowning; jumping into a well; physical illness; apparent mental disturbance; death investigation; forensic examination
Place of eventShanghai 上海
Year of event1945
LanguageChinese
file attachment

R44-2-6103.pdf (819.48 ko)

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