Since the end of February, many QQ users in China have received an unexpected message immediately after opening the software - a "Complete Suicide Manual."
The manual - written in a humorous tone - lists over 10 ways of committing suicides, with a rating system that details the difficulty of each method, the condition of the body based on each method, and the rate of success for each.
The message has been widely spread among netizens and has proved of special interest to younger people.
A national newspaper expressed concern about the message, which eventually led to a ban on spreading such information, imposed by the Chinese Ministry of Public Health.
On March 30, police officials told the China Youth Daily during an interview that a person who spreads a harmful message which results in a crime would be punished.
Anyone violating public security management rules and Internet management rules, by disseminating information about suicide methods for instance, would be investigated and prosecuted.
Previous reports said suicide websites and manuals had been found on the Internet in China since 2002.
But on April 1, Shanghai Star reporters searched Google for information about suicide and found that most entries were news items about the ministry's action.
However, the manual was found on some BBS and blogs. And on some BBS, when a person raised the topic, "Want to end this boring and hopeless life?", several people replied with suggestions on how to do it.
Fatal influence
Although legal experts disagree on whether spreading such messages is a crime, psychologists and educators are worried that it could trigger suicides among high-risk groups, especially teenagers who are more vulnerable to suggestion.
"Committing suicide requires a huge amount of courage. But once such deaths are discussed in a light or mocking tone, the terror is reduced for those with suicidal thoughts," said middle school mental health consultant Zhang Lili in Beijing, who added that this could lure teenagers to commit suicide.
Psychiatrists said that reading such information could negatively influence people's subconsciousness and even lead to extreme actions. They are also worried that the Internet could accelerate the suicide trend because several group suicides organized through the Internet have been reported in Japan and Taiwan Province.
Such concerns are supported by a survey conducted by the Teenage Research Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences on teenagers' (ages 9-18) choice of media in 2004. The result showed that a quarter of the 2,830 local teenagers queried chose the computer as their favorite media source and 24.4 percent favored getting information and news through the Internet.
Group suicide has not been reported on the Chinese mainland but several cases of students killing themselves by following suggestions on suicide websites have been reported.
"The Internet has spread mass information. Management and regulations are insufficient. Against a background of globalization and with easy access to the Internet and other media, such negative information can spread easily among Chinese teenagers. It will probably trigger group suicides among Chinese teenagers eventually," said Professor Sang Biao, director of the Psychology Department of East China Normal University.
Besides stricter management of this kind of negative information, Sang suggests that Internet surfers cultivate their ability to distinguish and choose proper and useful information instead of being misled by negative information.
Helping hand
The wide dissemination of suicide information is "the tip of iceberg" - reflecting people's mental situation and experts say a social support system needs to be built to help those with suicidal tendencies (most of whom suffering from mental problems such as depression).
However, this social problem, combining great economic loss with emotional pain for surviving relatives, hasn't gained enough attention from either the public or the government.
Several cities including Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou have organizations to help suicidal people. In 2004, a group of local doctors, university teachers and consultants established the city's first Mental Crisis Intervention Centre in Pudong Gongli Hospital, providing free professional mental consultant for those in need.
"Since April 2004, we have accepted 70 attempted suicides and helped over 100 people in mental crisis," said Dr Shan Huaihai of the hospital's Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, one of the initiators of the centre.
"In one case, a young women attempted to cut her wrists after losing her job. She has now successfully overcome the mental crisis after intervention by mental consultants."
But the centre is in great need of financial support. "We have communicated with the Shanghai Municipal Government several times and handed them a proposal on April 1. The government has come to consider the problem," said Shan.
In addition, educators suggest teenagers should be taught to cherish and respect their lives, because in traditional Chinese culture, the individual is encouraged to sacrifice life for the benefit of the family, the group or the nation.
Shanghai Mental Crisis Intervention Centre
Hotline: 5885-8730 ext 5244
Service hour: 8:30 am-11:30 am,
1:30 pm-5:30 pm
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and Saturday.
(Shanghai Star April 13, 2005)
