For Seven Months, Zhang Hong Jie’s Dead Body Remained Undiscovered Inside Her Own Home
In 2005, the murder of a Chinese student in Australia led to a debate over support and systemic racism of international students. Why? Because the victim’s corpse lay undiscovered inside her apartment for seven months. Let’s discuss the Zhang Hong Jie case.
Who Was Zhang Hong Jie?
Zhang Hong Jie was born in 1979 in China, yet her accurate birth date is not named in any source.
She came from China to Australia in 2000 to study there with a student visa.
Also known as Steffi Zhang, she was a 24-year-old communications student at the University of Canberra in 2004.
Hong Jie rented an apartment in the northern suburbs of Belconnen, Australia.
She also had at least one roommate, but there are no information as to who her roommate was.
Her family remembered her as a selfless and “kind girl” who “always did her best to care for everyone around her, and those who needed help.”
Body Only Discovered Seven Months After Murder
Nothing seemed unusual to relatives of Hong Jie. And yet, she was missing, although no missing reports were filed by family or friends.
It was only on January 12, 2005, that Hong Jie’s badly decayed body was discovered inside her apartment after neighbors complained about a weird smell.
Due to the advanced decomposition of the body, she could only be identified as Zhang Hong Jie in late February after DNA samples from family were collected.
Although police didn’t release how Hong Jie died, they estimated her time of death as being June 2004; and that the case was a homicide.
Police also didn’t disclose whether she was killed inside the apartment or in a different place before being dumped there.
The Only Suspect
However, police were able to identify a suspect without the public’s help.
While they didn’t name the suspect at first, he was later named as Zhang Long; Hong Jie’s boyfriend.
He lived back in China, and while there isn’t much information as to why he was named a suspect, Chinese officials led their own investigation.
In Shanghai, he was held by officials during the initial investigation in 2005.
Poor Media Coverage
Now, to this point, these are the facts of the case. However, there are no more updates in Hong Jie’s murder; it’s as if investigation froze.
Additionally, the few sources available in the case are often repetitious and don’t provide a full picture of what exactly happened.
Lots of questions remain in Zhang Hong Jie’s case. Why did nobody miss her in those seven months she lay dead in her apartment?
What other facts are there that police didn’t tell the public? How and why did she have to die?
A Problem of Larger Extrent
Hong Jie’s case resulted in outrage, given the long time period her corpse wasn’t found.
Her case highlighted the issues faced by international students in Australia.
Numbers speak best to prove this. A 2019 survey in Australian schools found that one in three students who weren’t from an European or English background experienced racism in society.
Support for international students at universities is often considered poor, raising the problem that students not only come to Australia to graduate from an university.
In Hong Jie’s death, nobody at the university seemed to be suspicious of her sudden inactivity, despite the university claiming to be “very caring and student-oriented,” according to The Age.
And yet, the University of Canberra changed proceedings regarding international students after Hong Jie’s death — at least one tiny positive take from this sad case.
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