China’s rooftop daredevil confirmed dead

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Fans have been paying tribute to China’s self-styled first rooftop adventurer who died last month.

The confirmation of Wang Yongning's death only came on Wednesday as a result of questions that were raised after his social media account had not been updated for over a month.

The extreme sports player was well-known for his risky stunts, like walking on the edge of a rooftop or posing with his hands holding a rooftop edge and his body hanging midair.

Wang Yongning was fond of stunts. /Photo from Wu Yongning's Weibo

Wang, who was born in 1991, usually recorded each of his risky challenges on video which he posted to his Weibo account with a screen name of @Jixian-Yongning but the last post was on November 8, which triggered off speculation by netizens that he had died.

Wang's friends' statement /Photo from Chengdu Business Daily

And so it turned out. Wang’s friends on Wednesday put out an online statement confirming that he had fallen down a skyscraper in Changsha on November 8 and his body was discovered the next day.

In the statement, the friends also said a video showing him dropping down from a building was recorded by him as a gimmick.

A screenshot of Wang's last Weibo on November 8 /Screenshot

The latest video post on Wang’s account has earned over 6,000 likes, the number of which could be the largest among all his posts on Weibo. Netizens flooded to the post, commenting and expressing their condolences to the man who sacrificed his life in the name of extreme sports.

“RIP. You’ve left your footprint in the world. It’s believed that there’s no pain in the heaven…@Ironring commented on Weibo.

Photo from Wu Yongning's Weibo

Wang started his career as a martial artist and supporting actor, appearing in some movies and TV series.

According to his biography on Weibo, “The goal is to challenge all skyscrapers in the world without any protection.”

His videos indeed made him a name on some video websites in China and have had some 200,000 followers on Meipai, a Chinese video-recording app but his videos have always been controversial, with some concerned that others might try to copy him.

Photo from Wu Yongning's Weibo

According to a report of “Your Chances of Dying” published by the US National Center for Health Statistics, base jumping could be the most dangerous assorted sports and recreational activity, with a one in sixty chance of dying.