Zhu Ling

Who is Zhu Ling?

Zhu Ling is best known as the victim of an unsolved 1995 thallium poisoning case in Beijing, China. Her symptoms were posted to the Internet via a Usenet newsgroup by her friend from Peking University, Bei Zhicheng and was subsequently proven to be thallium poisoning. Her case was then reviewed by physicians in many different countries who examined her symptoms and made suggestions as to diagnoses and treatment. This effort was recognized as the first large scale tele-medicine trial. Her life was ultimately saved, but she suffered serious neurological damage and permanent physical impairment.

This case drew great attention in the Chinese media, because the victim and the suspect were living in the same dormitory in the most prestigious university of China, and the case was never solved. Internet discussion of the crime has continued since then and became a hot topic on major online Chinese communities very frequently as a high-profile cold case.