A high-level assistant to the president of Alibaba-affiliated Ant Financial died of illness Wednesday in Hong Kong, a family statement said.

The cause of death for Mao Junhua, 41, was not given. According to a WeChat post from Cyril Han, Ant Financial’s vice president in charge of finance, Mao was “fighting with illness” — an expression that often refers to cancer.

Mao graduated from prestigious Tsinghua University in 2002, and later worked for the country’s leading investment bank China International Capital Corporation (CICC), where he won high-profile awards for best-performing analysts several times.

He joined Ant Financial three years ago, but went on sick-leave in mid-2018. However, he still published work-related posts to his social media accounts, Caixin learned.

His death triggered debates online about whether the infamously long working hours at Chinese companies had damaged Mao's health.

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