BEIJING, Nov. 18 -- A former publicity official in northwestern Gansu Province was murdered at his home in Lanzhou, the provincial capital, Wednesday, local police said, giving no details.

    Shi Xingguang, 60, former deputy publicity chief of the provincial committee of the CPC and chairman of Gansu's journalists' association, was killed with a knife in his own house around 10 a.m., Chinese media reported.

    His colleagues called his house after Shi did not come to office in the morning, but no one answered the phone. They then went to his home to find out what happened. The colleagues called the police.

    His neighbors were not aware of the murder until they saw his body taken out and police cars waiting outside at noon.

    Shi, nicknamed the ¡°hierarch¡± of the Gansu press, had been president of Gansu Daily between 1996 and early 2005. During that period, Shi was also deputy publicity chief of the provincial committee of the CPC.

    Born Aug. 9 in Minqin County in Gansu, he graduated from the Northwest Normal University in 1970.     

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)