A video of Taiwanese TV host Fu Da-ren’s death by assisted suicide at a clinic in Switzerland has gone viral, raising the profile of the debate on euthanasia in China and questions about dignity at life’s end.
Fu asks: “Can I do it in one take?” The volunteer says he can take it in two or three sips and that, afterwards, he should exhale.He then raises the cup, and says to the camera: “Farewell, so long” in Chinese and English. His family softly sing a hymn as he takes four sips, and his son says “Dad, I love you” and “relax, there’s no more pain”. Fu collapses in his son’s arms as his family claps and sobs.
Fu won a Golden Bell Award for Taiwanese television in 1980. During his broadcasting career, he coined several popular sports catchphrases that are still used by commentators and fans today, such as gai huoguo, for a basketball block shot. “His children must have mixed feelings, they are happy that their father is finally far away from pain, at the same time they are mourning the loss of their father,” another wrote. “Such separation is inevitable, but at the same time this triggers soul-searching on how to treat such separation.”