Over 200 people tried to jump off China's Nanjing Yangtze Bridge
last year, making the road and rail bridge the preferred spot for
Chinese who attempt to end their lives, police said.
"Fortunately, most of the people who tried to commit suicide
were restrained by police, but still about 15 of them did manage to
jump off and died," an officer with Nanjing Railway Police told
Xinhua on the phone.
The officer, who identified himself as Zeng, refuted previous
media reports that since 1968 nearly 2,000 people had ended their
lives at the bridge in Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu Province, but admitted the bridge
spanning the Yangtze has become a favorite suicide location.
Police records show that the number of people rescued or
restrained at the bridge ranges from 100 to 200 per year.
The Nanjing bridge is the first bridge on the Yangtze River. The
construction of the 5,773-meter-long bridge was kicked off in 1960
and completed in 1969. The bridge was hailed as a major engineering
feat of the People's Republic of China for a long time and has
always been a major tourist attraction in the ancient city.
Chen Jin, director of the Crisis Prevention Center of Nanjing
Neurosurgery Hospital, said Chinese who want to commit suicide
often choose famous places such as scenic spots for their last
moments. He blamed extensive media coverage for encouraging
depressed people to target those places.
Most people trying to jump off the bridge are unable to cope
with unhappy love affairs, marital or financial problems. Unable to
find a suitable channel to alleviate their depression, they choose
a radical solution, experts said.
But, police said, among the hundreds who tread the Nanjing
bridge, some did not intend to jump but used a suicide attempt as a
means of coercing others into fulfilling their demands.
About 280,000 Chinese commit suicide every year, according to
official estimations.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2007)