Meng Jianwei believed his father might still be alive, selling bean curd and decorating the house for his son's wedding, had there been a national law to resolve forced demolition disputes.

Meng Jianwei stands in front of the smashed walls of his demolished house.

The 27-year-old doctoral student, who majored in microelectronics at Shanghai's Fudan University, became a national icon for posting his online diary chronicling the events surrounding his parents' forced relocation from their home and the murder of his father at the hands of company thugs last October.

The young man was sleeping in his dormitory in Shanghai when he received a phone call around 4 am on Oct 30, informing him his father, 54-year-old Meng Fugui, was in critical condition after a brutal attack staged by the demolition company.

According to a local government report, 10 men beat Meng Fugui to death and injured another protester.

By the time Meng Jianwei arrived home in Guzhai village in suburban Taiyuan city, capital of North China's Shanxi province, his father was dead.

The son chronicled the incident in his online diary and also published a letter of protest, calling for a just legal system to empower farmers to decide whether or not to move from their properties.

He wrote in his first post on the Chinese social networking site Renren.com on Oct 30 that he could not accept losing his father, "a strong man in good health".

The father sold bean curd to support Meng Jianwei's studies. Meng Fugui's younger son and daughter had left school.