The Party secretary and Mayor of Shangrao in Jiangxi Province, Yu Xiaoping, 50, has committed suicide at home but the authorities have not released any reason as to why he would have taken his own life, the Shangrao Daily has reported.

Insiders said that at 7:30 am on August 26, Yu's driver arrived to pick him up from home as usual. But he found the gate was closed and knowing Yu's wife was on a business trip to Tibet, he assumed Yu was sleeping in.

After waiting half an hour, the driver found the gate still closed and used a key to open the door. He found Yu had hanged himself from a roof beam.

Yu was fully dressed in new clothes. Investigators also found some ties that had been knotted together and believe Yu had intended to use them as a rope before deciding to use electrical cord instead.

His funeral was held three days later with about 300 people in attendance. Because the reason for death had not been given, the city's leaders did not attend.

An employee of the funeral organizers said more than 170 mourning wreaths had also been sent in the name of relatives and friends.

One of Yu's colleagues said the dead man was "crazy for his job". Yu worked hard at his job, the colleague said, adding that on occasions he would call staff from the office at midnight to arrange the next day's work. He also returned to the office in the early morning.

"We felt tired when working for him and almost never had a day off. We couldn't leave the office if he was still there, or he would be angry," another staff member said.

Most staff gave Yu a positive appraisal.

An insider who knew Yu closely said Yu's death may cause temporary disruption in the local government. He said he was mainly worried about the fate of some of Yu's investment programmes.

Yu was reported to be the country's first city-level Party secretary to commit suicide during his term.

Rumours about his suicide, ranging from money problems to women trouble, have begun to spread widely in Jiangxi Province.

(Shanghai Star September 4, 2003)