Facing Life and Death: A Discussion Prompted by the Dalian University of Technology Case

Historical material: The following preserves the original context, personal views, and discussion; necessary revisions are identified separately.

This is a historical discussion, not an investigation finding about a particular event. Speakers retain their original role labels. Suicide involves complex factors and cannot be explained simply by resilience, a single relationship, or a letter.

The original opens with a quotation from Osamu Dazai's The Early Years. The passage involving suicide is not reproduced here; its attention to everyday life and to continuing to live is retained.

In the original manuscript, public discussion following a graduate student's death prompted graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and a supervisor to discuss research pressure, graduation requirements, and support. Their views at the time are preserved below. The limited public information available here does not establish the cause of an individual's death or anyone's responsibility.

When did we start liking ourselves less?

During your PhD, what situations made you feel the most pressure?

Postdoc 1: Compared with people my age, I actually experienced relatively little peer pressure. My thinking was fairly simple then: my only goal was to graduate. I did not think about what I would do afterward, plan to stay in research, or start looking for a job early. My supervisor took a hands-off approach, so I basically finished my dissertation and graduated smoothly. The pressure he put on me to graduate was therefore very small.

PhD student: In my own experience, preparing to study abroad already required considerable resilience. We spent a great deal of time and energy preparing for English tests, researching universities, finding supervisors, investigating options, submitting applications, and finally waiting for offers. We also gave up many other things along the way. I personally felt that coping with that process helped me manage later pressures. However, whether someone receives an offer, keeps applying, or gives up does not establish how psychologically resilient they are, and does not determine whether they will need support.

Postdoc 1: Yes. Personally, I felt more pressure while applying for a PhD. The struggles I went through during that preparation helped me build my ability to cope with stress. Later, during the PhD itself, pressure felt less significant to me.

Postdoc 2: I disagree that students abroad experience little pressure. From my own experience and observations, they can experience a great deal of it. Much of that pressure comes from day-to-day communication with a supervisor, rather than major milestones such as graduation or finding a job, especially for international students who face language barriers. PhD students can easily fall into a situation where they constantly try to meet other people's needs, including their supervisor's requirements and expectations, while overlooking their own emotional needs. Another possible reason is that we work long hours, leaving fewer ways to relieve stress in our own lives. In my observation, the PhD students around me often have low moods. Have any of you felt pressure when communicating with your supervisor?

Postdoc 1: I think what you just said makes a lot of sense. People may assume that graduate or doctoral students must be intelligent and high-achieving, but we can actually be a very insecure group. We struggle to form a clear, objective understanding of ourselves. First, our academic knowledge really is still limited, especially at the beginning of a PhD, when we do not understand the development of the whole field. Second, we do not know how to judge whether research is good. Our confidence, and even how happy we feel in life, can depend almost entirely on our supervisor's one-sided evaluation. If your supervisor says, 'You did particularly well today,' or 'That was great work,' you feel delighted.

But the opposite often happens too: a supervisor may be dissatisfied with a result, ask you to repeat the work, or simply ask, 'So what have you done this week?' Sometimes even a serious expression because the supervisor is in a bad mood can ruin our whole day. We can easily internalize a supervisor's negative assessment as a rejection of ourselves. Few students can build the mindset that says: I can disregard what my supervisor says; I know exactly what I need to do over these years and how to do it; failures and setbacks will not shake me; even without encouragement, or with discouragement, I can finish independently. In my view, this is hard for many students, so interactions between students and supervisors matter greatly.

How might interactions with a supervisor influence a student's sense of self?

How do a student's ability to cope, the way a supervisor gives feedback, and the support an institution provides interact? Can we discuss these pressures without reducing an individual death to a single cause?

The original quotes the deceased person's words here and speculates about their state of mind. Those quotations and details are not reproduced, and they are not used to infer an individual's psychological condition or the cause of death.

The discussion here concerns negative feedback and self-acceptance in general. It does not establish that an individual event resulted from 'insufficient resilience' or from a supervisor's influence alone.

Postdoc 1: In the research experiences I have observed, pressure often includes two aspects: negative or one-sided feedback from a supervisor, including dissatisfaction with your results, and your own peer pressure.

Supervisor: I disagree with that account. First, I hope students will not think only in those terms. I believe confidence should come from your own motivation, rather than depend entirely on external evaluations; it helps to retain your own judgment. I think many students feel pressure when experiments go badly or a supervisor criticizes them. I experienced that criticism countless times myself, and I am now grateful that it helped me remain committed to pursuing the truth. If my supervisor had lowered the standards then, I might not still be doing research. On the other hand, if a supervisor applies unwarranted pressure for their own benefit, I suggest seeking appropriate ways to protect your rights and asking the department or university for help. Learning to address problems can be part of the process, but it should not mean enduring them alone, nor can anyone guarantee that every difficulty will be resolved immediately.

As a supervisor, I do not want to put pressure on students without a reason; I aim instead to provide rigorous guidance. Sometimes we discuss a small experiment for a long time or repeat it many times. Students may think this is unnecessary, but explaining it in detail and persuading them of its purpose can, I think, ultimately be beneficial. From a teacher's perspective, that kind of pressure can arise during graduate supervision. From a student's perspective, I hope it will eventually make sense. Above all, I want students to have their own ideas and judgment. That is what I most hope to see. I want them to challenge me and overturn my conclusions; that is when I would consider graduate training meaningful. I have only recently started supervising graduate students, and I hope my first graduating cohort will think for themselves rather than simply do everything I say.

Why can graduation be so difficult? What gets in the way?

What responsibilities do supervisors and institutions have concerning graduation pressure and student support?

The original uses an individual's experience to introduce graduation requirements. Detailed quotations are omitted here; the following discussion addresses general requirements and educational aims, rather than assigning responsibility for a particular death.

PhD student: The discussion involves a requirement that a student publish an SCI-indexed paper before graduating. Is that too demanding for a master's student? In the programs abroad that I know, graduation requirements are not necessarily expressed as a single publication count. Might the system itself therefore create substantial pressure? Requirements differ between institutions and programs; this is not a claim that institutions abroad have no explicit standards.

Postdoc 1: I think that can be a factor. Top universities abroad have their own criteria. They may not state everything in black and white, but they have an internal benchmark for the level you must reach to earn a PhD. In places with many outstanding scholars, I think people's standards can be quite consistent. You need not assume that apparently flexible requirements will necessarily produce 'unqualified' students. But where academic standards are lower, relying entirely on flexible management could lead to inefficient or corrupt practices. So I can understand why universities in China use numerical, quantifiable management methods. These are my views about systems I know, rather than a description of every institution.

Postdoc 2: I do not have a strong enough basis to judge whether graduation requirements in China or abroad are better. But I think we need to ask what master's and doctoral training are meant to accomplish. During a PhD, for example, we may want to train more researchers. What kind of people does a university want to develop during a master's degree? Starting from that purpose, it could set appropriate and reasonable graduation requirements. Compared with PhD students, we hope master's students will gain more specialized skills on top of their general education, such as skills in communications, logistics, or computing, so they can prepare for work. If that is the aim, I personally do not think publishing papers is particularly necessary. Universities and the broader system need to think about what kinds of graduates they want to provide for society, then use that as the basis for reasonable requirements. That is something universities need to consider.

Supervisor: Some requirements are indeed harsh, and I personally do not favor mandatory publication rules of that kind. In many disciplines, publishing is not easy. In a three-year graduate program, a student may spend one year on coursework, one on experiments, and one writing the thesis, finding a job, or applying for a PhD. That leaves only one year to concentrate fully on research. In those circumstances, even when students publish, the work can be fairly superficial and the papers of modest quality, which is not helpful for research as a whole.

My current approach is to help students publish a paper in their first year, then let them settle down to work on something more substantial. Even if that later work cannot be published immediately, it will not prevent them from graduating.

At many North American universities, a student can graduate when the supervisor and committee agree that the requirements have been met. One of my classmates had not published any papers by the time of the PhD defense, but the work was systematic and the student graduated successfully. Afterward, several good papers followed.

Publication pressure can therefore trouble students, especially PhD students. Some universities require three papers, which can be difficult. PhD students are under considerable pressure, and master's students are too. Under China's current system, though, perhaps this is a way to achieve relative fairness. Without a benchmark, there might be more unfairness, so I see both advantages and disadvantages. The country is also reducing its reliance on publication counts and gradually reforming the system. I hope a better balance will eventually be found, so that students' pressure comes more from commitment to seeking the truth. These remarks reflect the speaker's view of the situation at the time, rather than a statement of current policy at every institution.

How can we learn to care for ourselves better?

What kinds of support and institutional changes might reduce risks?

Postdoc 2: At the personal level, I first want to say that PhD students need to learn to like themselves and attend to their emotional needs. We cannot fully know another person's experience, but self-doubt and self-rejection can become everyday experiences for many graduate and doctoral students. Many live a '996' schedule, with their emotions determined by experimental results and their supervisor, and have little time or space to develop other parts of life. This may sound like a motivational cliché, but I hope PhD students find the courage to acknowledge and appreciate themselves.

Postdoc 1: At the social level, I think this requires long-term change. Society needs gradually to encourage a different attitude, so people understand that earning a master's degree or PhD is not the only way to justify twelve years of hard study or an identity as an excellent student. Society should accept so-called failure more generously. We need to accept that someone who was once among the very best students may later become less outstanding. Parents, teachers, and friends should help that person adjust to the difference and accept a sense of failure. Society and universities should offer not only good routes upward, but also an inclusive way to leave a path.

Postdoc 2: I strongly agree: we need to accept a relatively ordinary version of ourselves, rather than feel that we must be exceptionally successful.

Postdoc 1: Exactly. If I decide that research is not the right path for me, can society let me leave it with dignity and a reasonable degree of comfort, and do something else? In China, people may feel that 'all occupations are inferior; only scholarship is noble.' You were top of your class in high school, scored exceptionally well in the entrance examination, entered a very good university, and were recommended for graduate study without an examination. Yet even by that point, you may still not know that research is not really your interest.

Research and solving exam questions are completely different things. Later, you may discover that you are less good at experiments than classmates who entered through graduate entrance examinations, or than people whose grades used to be lower than yours. That can create a painful gap between expectations and reality. Could we build a better system that allows people to leave fields they are not well suited to?

Some people do not like research or are not well suited to it. They may feel they boarded the wrong ship, or entered graduate school reluctantly under social pressure. Can we find ways to help them? Even if they lose their status as a new graduate or the prestige associated with an elite university, they can still find their strengths in other fields.

Supervisor: The discussion is a reminder that supervisors need to strengthen communication with students. Regular conversations can help us understand students' thoughts, but communication alone cannot guarantee that a tragedy will be prevented. If a group is large, it may be difficult to talk with every student, so I also hope students will communicate and care for one another. When difficulties arise, students should be able to seek support from teachers and from institutions, and should not have to carry everything themselves. Difficulties during graduate study can be part of learning to address problems, but they should not be dismissed simply as necessary training. I also recommend a good two-way selection process, allowing students and supervisors to find appropriate matches rather than settle for unsuitable ones. A good supervisor can be a lifelong resource; I have felt that myself. A supervisor's actions can influence a student's future, and I hope every student gains something positive. Students can also develop ways to adjust, while institutions provide a genuinely supportive environment. Graduate study involves learning to address both research and everyday problems. It is worthwhile to look for possible solutions together, while recognizing that not every problem can be solved immediately and that needing outside support is not a sign of inadequate ability.

Closing thoughts

A response on Zhihu says: Life does not contain so many things that absolutely must be achieved. If you have tried and cannot do something, it is all right to stop. Why should that be so terrible?

We cannot know another person's whole experience or explain a death through a few pieces of writing. Still, whatever your current mood or situation, I hope you can learn to make peace with yourself.

The original closes in remembrance. Imagery that romanticizes death or a next life is not reproduced. Its concern for the deceased and its wish that readers care for themselves are retained: taking a rest, changing paths, or seeking support should not be equated with failure.

Restoration review, 2026-10-10: The original discussion of research pressure, graduation systems, self-acceptance, and support is preserved in full. Specific suicide methods, locations, final writings, and imagery romanticizing death are omitted, and combined identifying details of an individual case are withheld. Speculation about a single cause, claims that application outcomes select for psychological resilience, and assurances that communication alone can prevent a tragedy are replaced with appropriately limited discussion. The original export and change records remain private.

Supplementary references

• WHO: Preventing suicide—a resource for media professionals, update 2023
• NIMH: Depression—symptoms, contributing factors, and treatment