Recently, a new “anti-jumping wire fence” has been installed on a bridge in the urban area of Yiyang City, Hunan Province, sparking discussions. The facility, with a height exceeding five meters, has been described by netizens as a “protective net turned into a protective wall.”
In recent years, there have been frequent incidents of individuals jumping off bridges or into rivers to commit suicide in various parts of China. Since 2024, tragic events have occurred in cities such as Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Mianyang in Sichuan Province, Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, and Luoyang in Henan Province. The newly installed anti-jump net in Yiyang, Hunan, stands at over five meters high, and from videos taken by the public, the wire mesh almost blends seamlessly with the bridge structure, resembling a closed wall.
At the same time, the Qiyi Bridge in Gushi County, Henan, has also installed protective barriers. A food delivery driver, Mr. Li, in the area told a reporter on July 18th, “Most of those who jump off the bridge are students. The government has installed some protective nets in the past few days, but only a part has been installed so far.”
Despite many bridges in various places adding hardware facilities, tragedies continue to occur. On June 16th, there was a case of someone jumping off the Shengli Bridge over the Fen River in Taiyuan; two days later, there was another bridge jump at the Yingze Bridge. Just in May of last year, there were 16 consecutive bridge-jumping incidents in Taiyuan. Subsequently, authorities installed high fences and anti-throwing nets at locations like the Yingze Bridge and Fen River Bridge, even assigning “bridge guards” to patrol, but the effectiveness has been limited.
On June 20-21, in Nanchong and Mianyang in Sichuan, bridge-jumping incidents occurred consecutively due to debts or family conflicts. A 42-year-old man jumped off a bridge because he owed over 400,000 yuan in online loans and 100,000 yuan in credit card debts.
Mr. Zhao, a resident of Mianyang, told a reporter, “Most bridges in our area where drowning incidents occurred have installed protective nets. Those where incidents didn’t happen haven’t been installed yet because it also costs money, and the total cost isn’t a small sum.”
It has been found that at least seven provinces and municipalities have adopted multiple measures such as “physical protection + patrol” against bridge suicide. For example, Yiyang, Hunan, has added tall fences; Qiyi Bridge in Gushi, Henan, has installed three-meter-high guardrails; Shanxi Taiyuan and several cities in Liaoning have installed flexible metal protection nets in the center of bridges; Chongqing, Yibin in Sichuan, Nanjing in Jiangsu, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang have also added protection facilities, with Hangzhou even introducing intelligent monitoring systems to enhance real-time monitoring and early warning.
A resident of Zhejiang, Ms. Zhu, told a reporter, “From last year until now, there have been quite a few bridge jumps in various parts of Zhejiang, but they are not widely reported in the news. Most of them are young people, including students, and middle-aged individuals who have been overwhelmed by mortgage and car loan debts. The number of people jumping off bridges is increasing.”
In some cities, authorities are also attempting to introduce psychological interventions and human patrols. For instance, in Nanjing, besides raising the height of bridge railings, they have set up psychological counseling stations, arranged for volunteers to be on duty, and formed crisis intervention teams to prevent such incidents.
However, many netizens have questioned this “blocking” management approach. In the comments section on Douyin, a netizen named “Uncle Cao” commented, “If this bridge is blocked, they’ll go to another bridge, and after blocking that, they can go upstairs, then to highways, railways…”
When interviewed, a sociologist from a university in Shanxi, Mr. Jiang, said that the frequent bridge-jumping incidents are not isolated cases but a collective manifestation of social structural imbalance. “Over a decade ago, people resorted to petition offices, bombed courts, or set fire to buses; now many have turned to jumping off bridges into rivers. One type seeks revenge against society, while the other is those in complete despair.”
Mr. Liu mentioned that most bridge jumpers are heavily indebted middle-aged and young adults, trapped in online loans, mortgage crises, or credit card debts. “Many apps lure consumers into easy lending, with high interest rates and aggressive debt collection. Some internet platforms also abuse financial licenses, operating in regulatory gray areas. When something happens, nobody takes responsibility, and there’s no avenue for seeking help.”
“These individuals don’t lack appreciation for life but have reached a dead end,” he said. “When debts are insurmountable, family doesn’t understand, and the legal system can’t help them, jumping off a bridge might be their last resort.”
The “five-meter-high anti-jump net” in Yiyang seems to have reduced incidents in the short term, but some criticisms point out that even if the local government builds higher walls, without providing employment support, debt negotiation mechanisms, psychological counseling, and other systematic services, it won’t stop people from finding alternative ways to end their lives.