Depression, a word not normally applied to young people, has become a common word among Chinese students.

The problem came to fore again with the suicide of a doctoral student in Shanghai. Meng Fanwu, father of student Meng Yi, recently released his son's suicide note to the public to try to curb similar tragedies in the future.

The problem of suicide attempts in China is growing. Between May and July, three Peking University students killed themselves by jumping from buildings.

Shanghai's education bureau reported a rate of 5.4 suicides per 100,000 university students in 2002 and 2003.