On May 16, at noon past 12 o’clock, a young woman in Yibin climbed over the guardrail of the Tujiang River Yangtze River Bridge and jumped off the bridge, committing suicide. This was the third suicide incident that occurred on this bridge in three consecutive days.
The first incident happened on May 14 in the morning, when a young man climbed onto an outside platform of the bridge intending to jump off. He appeared to be around 20 years old. A kind-hearted passerby kept trying to persuade him, urging him to think about his parents, but in the end, the young man chose to end his own life. Following that, around 11 am on May 15, someone else jumped into the river.
According to online sources, after the person climbed over the guardrail of the bridge, concerned citizens passing by immediately reported the situation to the authorities. Upon police and firefighting arrival, during the persuasion process, the person suddenly jumped off!
Unfortunately, these incidents are not isolated cases. A netizen from Taiyuan posted that from May 10 to 14, people were jumping off bridges daily in the city. Another account on a social media platform claimed that within a month, six to seven individuals jumped into the Yong River from the Yongjiang Bridge in Nanning City, Guangxi.
From my observations, China has clearly been experiencing three “mores” in recent years.
What are these “mores”? More accidents, more anomalies, and more young people committing suicide.
In just one location at Yibin Yangtze River Bridge, it was rumored that within half a month last May, 12 young people jumped off the bridge, with only 4 being rescued.
Locations where suicides frequently occur are usually in precarious positions like bridges, large shopping malls, and tourist attractions. To prevent similar incidents from recurring, some places have stationed guards.
Reported by New Tang Dynasty Television, due to recent suicide incidents, Nanjing’s Deji Plaza has added “anti-jump personnel” on every floor following a recent suicide by jumping incident.
A widely circulated photo online shows that at this plaza’s atrium, there is a man positioned on each floor facing the atrium behind the guardrail, some holding onto the railing, some with their hands behind their backs. They appear like security personnel rather than customers shopping in the mall.
Moreover, on one of the floors, a steel railing has been specially added about one or two meters behind the glass railing.
Similar precautions have been taken on the Yangtze River Bridge in Yibin, Sichuan, and Chongqing, due to the high number of jumpers, they have also employed “bridge watchers.”
However, even with these measures in place, suicide incidents continue to occur. After the spate of suicides last May at Yibin Yangtze River Bridge, local authorities stationed “bridge guards,” but tragically, they have been unable to prevent young people from jumping into the river. A year later, the same tragedy repeats itself.
People wonder: why are there more and more young people committing suicide in mainland China?
The answer can be summed up in two words: despair.
But why despair? Because they are too poor to survive, because they face injustice, because the burdens are too heavy…
Take, for example, a recent suicide incident in Guangzhou. On May 15, a video circulated online showing a woman jumping to her death from the edge of the 6th floor of Tianhe District’s Grandview Mall in Guangzhou.
Following this, a screenshot of a post on a female’s Weibo account went viral online, allegedly the complaint of the woman who jumped. In a post dated May 13, she claimed that a man from Guangzhou took away 10,000 yuan from her during her unemployment and a critical exam, deceived her into a relationship, then disappeared, unreasonably broke up, and blocked her on all platforms. She mentioned being harassed and bullied by him and his family and male classmates for months, forced to take videos, violated her privacy, refused to delete them, and falsely accused her to the police numerous times.
She expressed despair over Guangzhou’s public authorities, as they refused to address her grievances, forcing her to resort to legal action. She mentioned traveling back and forth between Shanxi and Guangzhou multiple times, enduring great agony, suffering severe physical and mental damage. She stated that the day she jumped, she deliberately wore red clothes, intending to jump from the rooftop, hoping to become the most vengeful ghost in the world, seeking revenge for her past helplessness.
Faced with an increasing number of young suicides, kind-hearted individuals reflect that no matter the difficulties encountered, one should not easily give up their life. The future may be long, and life holds endless possibilities.
Is this statement true? Not giving up on one’s life is indeed true, but the premise for an optimistic future should be living in a normal country and society. Otherwise, while the road ahead might be long, many young people living in the lower strata have hardly any opportunity to change their lives. Unfortunately, today’s China is just such a country, such a society.
The CCP’s propaganda machine has always portrayed to the world that China’s reform and opening up have led to a new golden age. However, the increasing number of young suicides eloquently illustrates that the so-called golden age under the CCP is nothing but a real-life hell.