In May, more than ten bridge jumping tragedies occurred in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province. The locals expressed that “every day someone jumps into the river, it’s almost becoming a suicide bridge.” Analysis suggests that under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, the sluggish economy has led to people feeling desperate due to housing mortgages, debts, and other life pressures.
Recently, there has been a spate of bridge jumping incidents in Taiyuan. Netizens have compiled a list: on May 10, one person jumped at Nanzhong Ring Bridge; on May 11, one at Changfeng Bridge and another at Yingze Bridge; on May 12, one at Jinyang Bridge; on May 13, one at Yingze Bridge; on May 14, one at Xiangyun Bridge; on May 19, one at Nanzhong Ring Bridge and one at Yingze Bridge; on May 20, 21, 22, someone jumped off Yingze Bridge each day…
A local from Shanxi with the online alias “Struggling to Survive and Maintain Sales” mentioned that on May 21, someone jumped off the bridge in the early morning, and even on the festive day of May 20, there were incidents. Between May 10 and May 21, he alone knew about over a dozen cases.
On May 25, Xu Jianfeng, a physics teacher from the First High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University, posted on Weibo, saying, “Passing by a big bridge in Taiyuan, the taxi driver told me: For more than ten days, someone jumps into the river every day, it’s almost becoming a suicide bridge… I asked him: If you are not afraid of death, what else can’t you face? He did not answer me.”
Some netizens commented, “There are too many unfinished buildings in Taiyuan, many people invested all their savings in buying a house, but ended up with nothing in the end. Sometimes life might be harder to face than death.” “Real estate developers, banks, and the government colluded to defraud them.”
A Canadian Chinese temporarily residing in Taiyuan told The Epoch Times that recently, there have been many incidents of people jumping into the river in Shanxi Taiyuan due to repaying housing loans, debts, and a hopeless outlook on life.
“Nowadays, the bitterness in communist China is increasing. Many people have lost confidence in the Chinese Communist Party because of the continuing economic downturn, and many have been unable to find jobs for months, so many have lost hope in life,” he said.
The series of bridge jumping incidents in Taiyuan are shocking. “Zhihu’s Big Han Liu Huangshu” said, decent jobs are no longer available in Taiyuan. A decent job refers to one that is nine to five, weekends off, with social security contributions, and a monthly salary of over 3,500 yuan. The common situation is a monthly salary of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, with only one day off, no social security contributions, working from morning till night just to earn around 4,000 yuan, barely enough to sustain oneself minimally, and difficult to cope with major illnesses or disasters.
He mentioned that widespread unemployment has emerged around him; unable to find jobs, people can only rely on their parents financially or find part-time work. Recently, there has been an increasing number of female food delivery workers showing up at his door. This kind of life offers no hope for improvement; one cannot have confidence in living a stable life at 35 or 40 years old. The situation will only worsen, making people more desperate.
In recent days, many locals have shared their monthly incomes online. Some earn just over 2,000 yuan per month; some earn over 5,000 yuan, but they admit that for the same type of work, they would earn around 8,000 yuan elsewhere; others work in state-owned enterprises, enjoy weekends off, social security contributions, but earn around 2,500 yuan per month; and some work in local kindergartens, earning less than 2,000 yuan.
A netizen named “Scattered Fan” said, “I am from Taiyuan, even college graduates are finding it hard to secure jobs. A relative’s child, who graduated from college over a year ago, has finally got a somewhat stable job as a cashier at a supermarket.”
Another netizen named “Aihong April” said, “Look at the income, then look at the prices, the employment rate of young people, the loss of talent. Even someone like me who is about to retire feels helpless… ”
Facing the severe social problem of consecutive bridge jumping incidents, the official response has been, “We know about this, it’s personal behavior. We will report it to the leadership.” At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party authorities are trying to cool down public opinion, deleting online comments about the Taiyuan bridge jumping incidents continuously.
The local government has urgently raised the height of the guardrails on both sides of the bridges, rushed to install anti-fall nets and deployed a large number of personnel to guard the bridges, with someone standing every few meters to prevent people from jumping off to commit suicide. A message from the Taiyuan police posted near the riverbank warns, “Cherish Life, No Jumping into the River, Violators will be fined 1,000 yuan.”
Many netizens believe that this is not due to individual reasons but rather societal causes. “In the past two years, life has been increasingly difficult for the lower class.” “The economic downward pressure is too great, debts are severe.” “Being on the brink of suicide and still being fined…” “Unemployment, life pressures, depression are the main causes of suicide. Not addressing the root causes and instead guarding bridges and tall buildings is clearly putting the cart before the horse.”
According to media reports such as Shanxi Evening News from last November, Taiyuan was listed as one of the “Happiest Cities in China.” Journalists found that from the active media reports featuring a Taiyuan woman “accidentally falling into the water” in 2021, to a food delivery guy in 2023 jumping into the river due to life pressure and being saved, to the current wave of chain suicides in Taiyuan being blocked from coverage, it is evident that mainland China’s social environment and people’s living conditions are undergoing changes.
Some netizens point out that the frequent bridge jumping incidents in Taiyuan are due to the great life pressures faced by the populace, high housing prices, and low incomes. With a monthly income of only 3,000 yuan but facing monthly housing loans as high as 4,000 to 5,000 yuan, along with car loans and living expenses, once the house is repossessed by the bank, the marriage falls apart, leading to extreme actions.
Media reports indicate that not only in Taiyuan, but in Guangzhou’s Renmin Bridge, Nanning’s Yongjiang Bridge in Guangxi, and Chongqing’s Yangtze River Bridge, there have been incidents of people jumping into the river. Netizens say that over ten incidents occurred on Nanning’s Yongjiang Bridge last month. Inspection personnel on Chongqing’s Yangtze River Bridge stand guard every fifty steps and continue to patrol late into the night.
An independent commentator posted on Platform X, saying, “On Chongqing’s Yangtze River Bridge, Yibin Yangtze River Bridge, and bridges in Taiyuan, there are people stationed every few steps to prevent jumping, with firefighters waiting in boats under the bridge, all of which are visible in videos. In reality, more suicides cannot be prevented; can we prevent jumping off bridges and buildings? In a mall in Nanjing, a suicide led to the urgent assignment of floor guards. There have been incidents of jumping off buildings in hospitals, such as a man seen in a video throwing his wife off a building. These human tragedies are more despairing and bleak than the Cultural Revolution and the Great Famine!”
A handwritten text circulating online titled “Elder Brother of the Supreme Procuratorate” reads:
These past few days, several vicious incidents have erupted, resulting in 25 deaths. In Jiangxi’s Guixi, a middle-aged woman went on a killing spree at an elementary school during the day, killing two and injuring six, which was already shocking, but that was just the beginning. In the evening, in Chenzhou, Hunan, a middle-aged man randomly killed people in a park, causing three deaths and two injuries. Yesterday, in Wusheng County, Sichuan, a male driver ran over pedestrians, resulting in five deaths. Following that, in Zigong, Sichuan, a man injured people on a bus.
Then on Kangtai Road in Guangzhou, a driver named Zhang maliciously hit electric bikes and pedestrians on the road, colliding along 3 kilometers, causing approximately 15 people to die on the spot, with bodies scattered, and a tragic scene! This incident is the most severe among the 900 malicious hit-and-run incidents this year.
In this difficult era, survival is not easy, leading individuals to suicide or murder when life seems hopeless. Currently, with the economic downturn and pervasive hostility, when going out and interacting with people, avoid conflicts. Especially with strangers, you never know what they have been through the moment before; they might unload everything on you. It is important to be kind, understanding, and maintain peace. The frustrations of the lower class, middle class losses, business closures, house repossessions, stock market failures, boss escapes, and debts unpaid; this bottled-up resentment finds no release. When meeting someone, it’s crucial to be more understanding, as a word could become the last straw. The content in one’s gaze and expression may reveal a lot…
Users on Platform X believe, “The unequal distribution of rights and responsibilities is the biggest cause of societal hostility. If an eight-hour workday, social welfare, political participation, and the implementation of an eight-hour teaching schedule were in place, then individual responsibilities could be attributed. Having rights leads to responsibilities, and if there are no rights, suicide is not an individual’s responsibility. The guarantee of rights is fundamentally a political system issue.”
“The Chinese Communist Party has riddled China with holes and tirelessly exploits its subjects, repeatedly harvesting the grassroots. The subjects are harvested over and over again, until they can’t take it anymore…”