Wang Yefei, known online as “Sister Wang Zha,” had built a following of about 130,000 through regular livestream sales of women’s fashion. She was a single mother raising a daughter aged about 4, and friends said she routinely streamed seven to 10 hours a day, often relying on painkillers to manage recurring headaches, Jimu News reported.
Footage from the broadcast shows Wang trying on and presenting outfits when, about 36 minutes in, she suddenly clutched her head and neck, grimacing and telling staff she felt severely unwell. She stepped off-camera briefly while an assistant massaged her, then returned looking visibly worse, repeatedly touching the back of her neck and her chest, China News Weekly reported.
Her condition deteriorated rapidly. She shouted to staff to call 120, China’s emergency number, warning she was about to collapse. She was rushed to the hospital but died after just 11 minutes of emergency treatment, a friend who attended her funeral told China News Weekly. The cause of death was brainstem hemorrhage, one of the deadliest forms of stroke, which carries mortality rates exceeding 75% when bleeding volume surpasses 5 milliliters.
Friends described Wang as a hardworking woman in seemingly good health who pushed herself relentlessly to support her daughter. She had complained of headaches before the Lunar New Year holiday but had not sought medical attention, according to Jimu News. She typically stayed up late and slept little to maintain her follower count and income.
The incident reignited a recurring conversation in China about the physical toll of the livestreaming industry, where influencers routinely work punishing hours to stay visible on platform algorithms. Last October, a 32-year-old streamer known as “Yunnan Akui” also died of brainstem hemorrhage after collapsing during a broadcast, Chinese media reported.
Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures, most commonly due to high blood pressure, which is widely recognized as the single greatest modifiable risk factor. The resulting bleeding compresses surrounding brain tissue, rapidly raising intracranial pressure. Intracerebral hemorrhage carries one-year mortality ranging from 45% to 65%, and about half of all deaths occur within the first two days.
Smoking also significantly elevates risk, with stroke incidence among smokers two to three times higher than in non-smokers. Other high-risk groups include people with the “three highs,” a term widely used across East Asia for the combination of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar, as well as those with a family history of stroke.
Doctors recommend that people over 50 undergo at least one brain MRI to screen for hidden conditions such as aneurysms, vascular malformations, or signs of prior silent strokes. Early detection of an aneurysm larger than 5 mm allows for intervention or close monitoring before a potentially fatal rupture.
Wang’s social media accounts have been taken offline. Her funeral was held on March 11 in Yuci, Shanxi.
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