Beijing: Though he did not die giving a hot chase to getaway robbers or stopping lawbreakers, yet a Chinese traffic police officer was named a 'martyr' after dying due to heavy drinking at a banquet.
Chen Lusheng, a police sergeant in Shenzhen traffic police in Guangdong Province in southern China was deemed to have died a martyr "in the line of duty" after he was made to attend a banquet by senior party officials for his ability to hold his liquor, the China Daily reported.
Chen became the target of his hosts who repeatedly asked him to "genbei" or "bottoms up" as toast after toast were raised, the report said. The officer was off-duty when he was invited to a drink- binge. Chen vomited and passed out on a couch and suffocated.
He later died in hospital. His death touched panic among his party official hosts who decided to make him a martyr, in an apparent attempt to meet his family's demand for more compensation. The daily said after being pressurised by his family the police designated Chen a martyr, so that his family was illegible for a compensation of upto yuan 650,000 (USD 95,000) in compensation, almost double the amount he would have got on death as a working sergeant.
The newspaper said the family is demanding at least yuan 4.8 million (USD 700,000) and has set up a mourning hall at the police station to pressurise the department.
Chen's death is not an isolated case, a large number of officers including senior functionaries have died from excessive drinking at official functions.
Heavy drinking at business and government functions is almost mandatory in many parts of China. Many of these state banquets in honour of visiting dignitaries are covered by government funds. A senior Communist party official died in November in eastern Anhui province after drinking heavily at a state banquet, while entertaining a visiting business delegation.
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