University of Illinois sets up fund to honor late Chinese scholar

The University of Illinois has set up a fund in honor of Zhang Yingying, a visiting Chinese scholar at the university who was kidnapped and murdered in 2017.

On the web page established for the fund, the university said the goal is to support international students in moments of crisis. The fund was set up with the support of Zhang's family.

The website for the fund set up by the University of Illinois in memory of Zhang Yingying. [Photo: China Plus]

People can donate funds online. As of today, more than 31,000 U.S. dollars have been raised.

A public announcement about the fund was due to take place tomorrow at the university's Urbana-Champaign campus, but it was postponed at the request of Zhang's family. A new date and time for the event are yet to be chosen, according to the university's website.

Zhang Yingying. [File Photo: IC]

Zhang Yingying came to the University of Illinois from China in 2017 as a visiting scholar. She was kidnapped and murdered by Brendt Christensen, a former doctoral student, on June 9, 2017. Christensen was convicted last month and sentenced to life in prison.

Zhang Yingying's body has never been found, and Christensen has refused to cooperate by providing details of how he disposed of her body. But last week, the local news agency News-Gazette reported that her remains may be in a landfill in Vermillion County in Illinois.