Exclusive | US-China tensions played no part in death of renowned Stanford professor Zhang Shoucheng, family says

The family of Stanford professor Zhang Shoucheng, a world-renowned physicist and venture capitalist, denied speculation on Chinese social media that his death was connected to tensions in US-China relations or the arrest of Huawei’s CFO in Canada on Saturday.

Zhang, a tenured professor of physics at Stanford University, was internationally recognised for his work in quantum science. He was also the founding partner of Danhua Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund investing mainly in early-stage technologies.

Zhang died on Saturday, December 1, according to his family. He was 55.

“There is no police investigation, and the authorities have no suspicions about Professor Zhang’s death,” a representative for the family said. “You will read that he committed suicide, and this is true. But you will also read in the family statement that he had periodic bouts with depression.”

Many rumours circulated on Chinese social media about his death, some trying to build links between his death to a possible US government investigation under Section 301 of US trade law into Zhang’s Danhua Capital and even stretching to connect it to the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou on the same day.