'There is just one life. Taste all the splendour the world has to offer.'
Those are the words that Ma Chi chose to greet people with on his instant-messaging service.
Then, while living in Singapore three weeks ago, the 31-year-old businessman from Luzhou, Sichuan province, sped through a stop light in his red Ferrari 599 GTO and crashed into a taxi. Ma was killed instantly. The taxi's driver and passenger, a Japanese woman, died later in hospital.
The crash roused public anger in Singapore, where tensions have long simmered between residents and the foreigners who make up more than half of the city's population. Some contended that the careless, self-indulgent Ma, who worked in finance and had applied for residency, embodied the worst of a wave of newly rich mainland Chinese who have flocked to the city.
The Chinese embassy urged its citizens in Singapore to 'respect life, value the safety of themselves and others' and 'abide by its laws and regulations'. Back at home, the blogosphere swirled with rumours about the source of Ma's wealth and whether he was a scion of some prominent family.
But reports by mainland media have since provided a more detailed picture about his life in the fast lane.
A story published in The Beijing News on Friday described him as an enterprising youth who grew up under the name of Xiao Jingjing in Sichuan's coal country. His grandparents on this mother's side were revolutionaries and the family enjoyed a good reputation.