A SHENZHEN-BASED company believed to be related to a mysterious training course made a statement on its website Wednesday, saying that it had nothing to do with the course, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

    A 46-year-old woman, Zhang Haibi, jumped to her death from a building after joining the training course in February. During the seven-day course, participants weren’t allowed to eat anything and drank only fruit juice. They couldn’t leave the hotel where they were staying, and they had to do mindful walking for at least seven hours a day in the training room.

    The official website of Hande Zhixin Management Consultants Co. Ltd. in Shenzhen showed that one of the course tutors, Deng Junyun, had been hired by the company as a lecturer. However, the information was deleted Wednesday after the news about the training course went viral.

    Deng had publicly said that the company’s shareholder, Bao Jianying, was his mentor, and that he and another tutor, Zhang Lei, had become acquainted while taking part in one of the company’s courses.

    The company’s legal representative, Chen Xiaoxu, said that the company’s contract with Deng had already expired last year. The company said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the training course.

    A task force was set up Tuesday by Longgang police, the city’s industry and commerce department and health department to investigate the case.

    A majority of participants who signed up for the course were middle-aged and elderly people, while a number of them were suffering from severe illnesses.

    According to Deng, Zhang returned home on the sixth day of the course because her husband said she had been mentally unstable before. “We didn’t know what happened to her after she left our training place,” he said. But Zhang’s husband said that Zhang hadn’t been mentally unstable until she joined the training course. (Zhang Yang)