Controversy haunts death of China’s lead hypersonic weapons expert Fang Daining

2026.03.18 01:20 Fang Daining, pictured in 2021, died on February 27 aged 68, according to an obituary that has circulated on social media platforms in China. Photo: Handout Fang Daining, a key scientist in China’s hypersonic weapons programme, has died at the age of 68, according to an image of an obituary notice that began circulating on Chinese social media last week. Early online discussions included claims that Fang, who was also a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) member, the country’s highest academic title in science and technology, suffered an unexpected medical episode during a work trip to South Africa. The South China Morning Post could not confirm the online claims. Some social media users said they were told not to photograph the obituary, a claim the SCMP was also unable to verify. Fang, who studied super-strong materials for spacecraft and advanced engines at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), a key defence research university, “died of illness on February 27”, the obituary said. “Fang’s passing is a major loss to China’s mechanics community, the field of advanced materials and structures, and higher education. We mourn his death with deep sorrow.” The notice appeared to have been posted on a whiteboard at the university’s Institute of Advanced Structure Technology, which Fang helped to establish in 2015. The obituary notice that began circulating on Chinese social media last week. Photo: Handout Fang drew public attention in 2022 after a video of a young woman repeatedly kissing his face during a live-streamed academic meeting went viral, later prompting disciplinary action by his university and CAS. Posts discussing Fang’s death have been removed from Chinese social media platforms. The SCMP has not been able to independently verify the circumstances of his death. The university has been approached for comment. Fang was born in 1958 in Nanchang, in the central province of Jiangxi. He studied mechanical engineering at Nanjing Tech University in

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