The parents of a Chinese student found dead with 13 stab wounds to her body have called for an investigation after police ruled she committed suicide, state television reported.
Tian Shuhan, 21, was found dead in the hallway of a teacher's dormitory building at her university in central China's Henan province earlier this month, Henan's Minsheng TV reported.
Police told Minsheng the wounds, including six to her neck and five to her legs, were self-inflicted and stemmed from the extreme mental pressure she was facing during ongoing exams.
But her family said Tian showed no emotional distress ahead of her death -- and questioned how she could have stabbed herself 13 times.
The family is demanding a further investigation and wants to know why she was in the teacher's dormitory, the report said.
Police in Henan's Zhongmou county refused to comment on the case when contacted by AFP. Calls to the university went unanswered Thursday.
The television report sparked protests on China's popular microblogs. "The police are garbage, calling it a suicide is the easiest way to solve the case," posted one user.
"This girl really had to be strong, she was not only brave enough to die, she was also brave enough to die slowly, cut-by-cut," said another posting.
"This is really a creative way to commit suicide. You police can believe this, but damn it, I don't believe."
The case comes after Chinese authorities said the death of leading dissident Li Wangyang -- who served 22 years in prison following the quelling of the 1989 Tiananmen Democracy protests -- was suicide, sparking uproar among activists.
Li, who was blind, nearly deaf and barely able to walk, was found hanging by a bandage from the windowsill of his hospital ward, with both feet on the ground.
He died days after an interview with Hong Kong journalists in which he vowed to continue to fight for democracy in China.