Rooftop daredevil fell to death while trying to earn money to marry his girlfriend, family says 
 
 Authorities have confirmed that a young rooftop daredevil fell to his death last month from a 263-meter-tall Changsha skyscraper while apparently attempting to perform a particularly dangerous stunt in order to win enough money to marry his girlfriend. 
 
 Last month, the social media accounts of Wu Yongning (吴咏宁), who claimed the title of “China’s first extreme height challenger,” ceased updating, causing his followers to believe that the young man’s luck had finally run out. Their fears were finally confirmed on Friday when Wu’s girlfriend made a post on Weibo. “Today is December 8th. It makes me think of November 8th, the day that you left us, left this world,” she wrote. 
 
 More and more details of Wu’s untimely death are beginning to come out. Police have said that the 26-year-old fell from the 62-story Huayuan Center Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the Hunan capital, on November 8th. His body was only found the following day after his girlfriend reported him missing, the Beijing News reports. 
 
 Wu’s family told local reporters that before his death the daredevil was taking part in a rooftopping challenge in which an unnamed brand was offering him 100,000 yuan in prize money. Both friends and family believe that it was this big pay day that ended up pushing Wu over the edge. 
 
 His step-uncle said that Wu was planning to use the money, not only to pay for the medical treatment of his sick mother, but also to give to his girlfriend’s family as a bride price so that the two could finally be married. 
 
 Wu’s rooftopping friends said that he had started to take his stunts too far because of the challenge and refused to listen when they told him to take more precautions. He was also reportedly under a lot of stress because he had signed up with a number of live-streaming platforms and had been contracted to make some extreme videos to promote various brands. 
 
 Starting out as a film extra, Wu began making a name for himself online by posting hundreds of videos on various video-sharing sites showing him performing pulse-pounding stunts atop extremely high buildings in China without any safety equipment. On Meipai, he had accumulated 235,000 followers. 
 
 Shortly following confirmation of his death, a video began circulating online which purported to show the stunt that took Wu’s life. However, Wu’s friends have since said that it had been recorded by him as a gimmick. 
 
 However, yesterday, another video emerged on social media which appears to be authentic. The clip shows Wu lowering himself down off the edge of a skyscraper and attempting to do some pull-ups. However, he seems to lose his strength, and eventually, his grip. 
 
 Viewer discretion is strongly advised. ||||| This is the moment an internet star known as 'China's first rooftopper' fell to his death from the top of a 62-storey skyscraper. 
 
 Wu Yongning, 26, was doing pull-ups at the top of the Huayuan International Centre in Changsha, the capital of Huan Province, when he lost his grip and fell. 
 
 Harrowing footage captured the moment he let go, plunging 45ft on to a terrace below where his body was later found by a window cleaner. 
 
 Wu Yongning, 26, fell to his death from the top of the Huayuan International Centre in Changsha, the capital of Huan Province, while filming a stunt (right) 
 
 Wu fell from a 62-storey building in the Huayuan International Centre complex (above) 
 
 The incident was captured on a camera that Wu had placed on another part of the building to record himself. 
 
 Wu Yongning's girlfriend, who refers to herself as Jin Jin, told the Beijing News that he was due to ask her parents' permission to marry her two days after the stunt. 
 
 Jin Jin told the newspaper that he planned to bring her family a bridal gift of 80,000 yuan (£9,000), roughly the same amount he was due to earn from the video. 
 
 Wu died on November 8 but his death was only confirmed by family members on December 8 after fans became concerned that no videos had been posted to his social media account for a month. 
 
 Local authorities investigating the case described it as an 'accident' and have already ruled out foul play. 
 
 Wu had been planning to propose to his girlfriend after filming the video on November 8, but died after losing his grip and falling 45ft on to a terrace (file pics) 
 
 On live-streaming video site 'Volcano', Wu had one million followers and 300 videos. He held 217 live-streaming sessions and was paid around 55,000 yuan (£6,000) for doing so. Viewers paid him with virtual currency if they liked the videos. 
 
 Fans have now flooded social media with tributes to Wu. 
 
 Jin Jin, said Huayuan International Centre is only open to the public until the 44th floor, after which key cards are required to access the Grand Hyatt hotel. 
 
 As security personnel were also present on the hotel's top floor, she said she believes her boyfriend took a lift to 'over 40 floors' and then free-climbed 'nearly 20 more floors' to reach the position where he filmed. 
 
 Wu started life as a background actor in films but then began filming viral videos and aimed to become China's most famous 'rooftopper' 
 
 Wu used to work as a lowly paid background actor for various films in China before becoming a video blogger at the beginning of this year. 
 
 He discovered that by posting videos of himself climbing up dangerous structures, he could earn much more money than acting and could help his family improve their living standard. 
 
 In the space of 10 months, Wu scaled skyscrapers around China and performed stunts on top of them. 
 
 On October 3, he filmed himself doing an one-arm handstand on top of the 70-storey Sun Moon Light Plaza in Chongqing. 
 
 One month before, a video on his social media account showed him walking on a tiny ledge on top of the 68-storey Yuexiu Fortune Center in Wuhan. 
 
 One of his most famous stunts took place in mid July. In it, Wu did pull-ups without harness by grabbing to the edge of a 1,000-metre-high (3,280 feet) walkway in Zhangjiajie. ||||| Image copyright Weibo 
 
 A well-known Chinese climber has died while performing one of his trademark daredevil skyscraper stunts. 
 
 Wu Yongning had amassed thousands of followers on the social network Weibo for his dramatic short videos showing him perched atop tall buildings without the use of safety equipment. 
 
 Concern grew among his fans when he stopped posting updates in November. 
 
 It has now emerged that he died after falling from a 62-storey building in the city of Changsha. 
 
 Chinese media report that he was participating in a challenge to win a substantial amount of prize money. 
 
 The 26-year-old died on 8 November, but his death was only confirmed by his girlfriend in a post on Chinese social media a month later. 
 
 So-called "rooftopping" - climbing extremely tall city buildings without safety equipment - has become increasingly popular across the world in recent years. 
 
 Mr Wu's posts on Weibo warned his viewers not to imitate his dangerous performances. He had martial arts training, and had previously taken part in some television and film productions. 
 
 But it was his rooftop posts which brought him significant attention on social media - and, according to local media reports, proved more lucrative. 
 
 Image copyright Weibo Image caption Wu Yongning posted videos of his climbs to Chinese social platform Weibo 
 
 A family member was quoted as saying he was participating in a "rooftopping" challenge with 100,000 yuan (£11,300) at stake in prize money, though the nature of the competition and its sponsor was unclear. 
 
 "He planned to propose to his girlfriend (the day after the challenge)," the South China Morning Post quoted his step-uncle as saying. 
 
 "He needed the money for the wedding, and for medical treatment for his ailing mother." 
 
 On Weibo, friends and fans had a mixed reaction to the news. 
 
 Fellow rooftopper Charlie_7U posted a photo taken with Mr Wu, saying: "He went a bit over the top, always trying things that are beyond his ability". 
 
 "I have even saved him once... we stopped playing together," he added. 
 
 Another user asked: "Why would you seek attention in such a dangerous way, just for your fans? 
 
 "I became speechless after I found out from news that you were doing all that to pay for your ill mother's hospital treatment. You are one of those people in this world, you will do anything for your loved ones, absolutely anything." 
 
 The rooftopping trend is popular across the world in heavily developed cities. Despite safety concerns, many climbers insist that the use of safety equipment detracts from the experience. 
 
 "The moment you start wearing safety equipment is the moment you've got doubt and when you've got doubt, that's when things can go wrong," UK climber James Kington told the BBC last year. 
 
 "It completely changes the way you look at things. You see everything as a possibility rather than walls restricting you." ||||| A famous Chinese ‘rooftopper’ fell to his death from a skyscraper in a daring £11,000 challenge as he sought to use his fame to help lift his family out of poverty, media reported. 
 
 Wu Yongning, aged 26, fell from the summit of the 62-storey Huayuan Hua Centre in the central city of Changsha, apparently as he attempted to scoop 100,000 yuan (£11,200) for a clip promoting an unnamed sponsor, reports say. 
 
 The former movie stuntman had one million followers on the Chinese Internet and was well known for fearlessly scaling towering skyscrapers without any safety equipment. 
 
 More than 300 videos of him tip-toeing on scaffolding or doing pull-ups as he hung from the side of huge buildings were widely shared by his fans. 
 
 However, his account on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, went silent around a month ago after he purportedly attempted the Changsha skyscraper.
– He was famous on social media, then went silent. Now Wu Yongning's fans have learned why he stopped posting in November. The BBC reports that the Chinese daredevil, known for posting videos of himself at the top of tall buildings scaled without safety devices, is confirmed to have died in a fall from a 62-story building in Changsha on Nov. 8. The South China Morning Post describes the 26-year-old's life-ending stunt as a somewhat selfless act, saying Wu was undertaking the "rooftopping" challenge in hopes of winning $15,000 in prize money in order to pay for his sick mother's medical treatment, and also to fund a wedding with a woman that his step-uncle says he planned to propose to after the challenge was complete. The Telegraph's explanation of the money is that Wu, who had 1 million followers, was trying to secure it by filming himself promoting an unspecified sponsor. Shanghaiist reports the building was 862 feet tall. The Telegraph describes the more than 300 videos he posted as showing stomach-turning feats like him doing pull-ups from treacherous heights. Indeed, per the Daily Mail, video shows Wu doing pull-ups atop the Huayuan International Centre and then falling; he reportedly plummeted 45 feet to a terrace where a window cleaner later discovered his body. The Telegraph quotes a post from his girlfriend made Friday: "Today is December 8th. It makes me think of November 8th, the day you left us and left this world." (A daredevil who did the unthinkable at Everest also lost his life in November.)