Suicide Claims 250,000 Lives in China Every Year (September 12, 2006, Xinhua)

About 250,000 Chinese die of suicide each year, making suicide a leading cause of death for Chinese people, according to an expert on mental health.  Suicide is the number one cause of death for Chinese people aged between 15 and 34, said Michael R. Philips, China representative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and a consultant with the Mental Health Department of the World Health Organization, here at World Suicide Prevention Day which falls on Sept. 10. He said at least two million patients go to a hospital each year after being injured in an attempted suicide. Only 10 percent of them had previously received professional psychiatric treatment.

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On Thursday nights the guys on the team get together for sharing and encouragement. We are reading through “Every Man’s Battle” then discussing it during this time. Well, once a month we do something “non-traditional”, so I organized a photo scavenger hunt. So with the help of Sarah, I came up with a list of 20 things to take a picture of and 20 situations that someone was supposed to be in. The teams were Seth, Jonny and me & Robb, Jason and David. We won with 78 points over their 63. Each picture was worth a certain number of points with bonuses awarded for actions done before, during or after the photo. I have our team pics in the album titled “Photo Hunt”. Here is the list of 40 things to find:

You will try to take a picture of the following situations:

 1.            Someone standing in line at KFC

2.            Someone behind the wheel of a taxi

3.            Someone pictured with a current male student

4.            Someone flexing in front of the Hong Bang gym

5.            Someone pictured with a Russian

6.            Someone drinking a bottle of water beside the character for water

7.            Someone standing in the doorway of a Mr. Lee’s California Noodle (partial sign visible)

8.            Someone standing behind the counter of the Blue Store

9.            Someone sitting with the girl’s group

10.        Someone in a barber chair looking like they’re getting a haircut

11.        Someone smashing pumpkins (or a related gourd)

12.        Someone in a tree with a banana

13.        Someone standing by an ATM

14.        Someone standing in the middle of the Nanhu Park & Jiping Hotel intersection looking scared

15.        Someone cutting food in a restaurant

16.        Someone looking like they’re practicing their oral Chinese with a student

17.        Someone digging through the trash & picking up an item

18.        Someone posing with a mannequin

19.        Someone trying on the “maternity overalls”

20.        Someone eating an animal’s foot

 

You will try to take a picture of the following things:

 1.            A Hengkelong advertisement flyer

2.            One of the new two-toned, green-and-white taxis

3.            A street vendor selling watermelon

4.            A Jilin Normal University sign

5.            A dead animal (as in on the side of the road, not as in being sold in the market)

6.            A sign advertising DVD’s (i.e., a sign that says “DVD”)

7.            An “altar” to Buddha or the like that contains fruit of some sort

8.            A cross on a building or sign

9.            A baby (as in human, not as in fish, frog, dog, cat, chicken, etc.)

10.        A pig (alive not dead)

11.        A life-size Chinese statue

12.        An 8 ball

13.        A Chinese flag

14.        A group of mah jong players

15.        An open sewer cover

16.        A “grand opening” arch/ceremony thing

17.        A group of people dancing

18.        A Chinese man rubbing his belly (not Wu or a college student)

19.        A policeman

20.        A boat

 

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Since the Freshman have been in college for two weeks, the foreign language department presents a welcome for them. Our foreign language department offers four languages: English, Japanese, Russian and Korean (the recently added one). Anyway, students from each of these languages performed, so there was quite a lot of culture mixing.

Wu and I performed a skit. I was his arms getting him dressed in the morning and he was his head which I “toothbrushed”, shaved, gelled, and fed. It was great fun. He sat on my lap while I stuck my arms through my robe. We had O-Zone’s “Dragostea Din Ti” playing in the background (it’s the mali-hee, mali-ho song that everyone knows). My arms were killing me at the end though. The students liked it too.

You know, on campus we’re pretty much celebrities. I could have eaten rice out of a bowl with chopsticks and they would have clapped as though I was the recently discovered eighth Wonder of the World (not really, but I think the analogy is quite hilarious!).

On another note, when I taught my Freshman today, a student came in wearing an American flag bandana. While I was writing on the board, I didn’t notice him come in. But he came up right behind me and practically screamed, “Hello.” And I turned around quick enough too! There he was in the old red, white and blue. He wore it during the whole class and I thought it was a fun gesture. Maybe I should wear a Chinese flag bandana next week. Hmmmm?

What was also funny was the game we played in class. I had them go around the room and say their name and an animal that begins with the same letter as their English name. For example, one student said, “My name is Sydney and I came on a sea shell.” As you go around the room, you say your name and animal, then the name and animal of the person before you, ad nausem. Eventually, you should have memorized everyone’s name. What was quite funny was one girl who said, “My name is Kaitlyn and I came on a kaka.” I had no idea what she said originally, so, after repeated repeats of this unknown word, the student had to spell it. I still didn’t have a clue what a “kaka” was, but they showed me in their Chinese dictionary and apparently it’s a bird of sorts. Unbeknownst to them, “kaka” is Choctaw for poop. J

 

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3400.

With the new set of Freshman classes, they are a hoot! I am amazed at how outgoing and ready-to-speak-English they are. My class this morning was crazy! Even Jonny came by to say “hi” and he was a little freaked. One thing that we do the first week is gather Chinese and English names. If they have a good English name, it stands. If they don’t have a good one or don’t have one at all, I have a list to give them from which they choose one. Anyway, one of my students had the name Mississippi. So I explained to the class how strange that is and gave the example of saying “My name is watermelon” (in Chinese). Naturally, they cracked up…and they got the point.

After class, the student (formerly named Mississippi) explained how she got her name. She said in high school, her English teacher had a room of 52 students. So the teacher decided to have each of the students pick one of the names of the US states. So she was Mississippi. Great Scott! My mind raced to think of a Chinese student with the name Arkansas, North Dakota, Hawaii or, even worse, Idaho (get it?). You can’t make up this stuff!

On an unrelated note, our team made a video on behalf of a request from a supervisor from Beijing. Our supervisor said that in years past, one idea to help with team unity was to have an “egg dropping” activity. So our crazy team banded together and came up with the following. Thanks to Jonny for his cinematography, story boarding, video editing, sound editing, equipment use, directing, production and overall mad gopher skillz. He put his video on Youtube.com and here it is. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVd25GFbDSE

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3360.

The term is in full swing as I have begun to teach the Freshmen. For the past two weeks, they have all been doing their military training. It is a requirement for all Freshmen in any Chinese college. They would march from in the morning to in the evening for those two weeks. Now they start their classes even though the upperclassmen have already started.

I am remembering my first year though. How “green” I was! I remember really jacking up their Chinese names. But now, on the first class of Freshmen, I said many of their names correctly. I even recognized some of their names by their characters. I’ve come a long ways.

On a different note, I met a student at the library last week. He talked ninety to nothing! It was insane! So he called me Sunday and wanted to know if I would be at the library again on Monday. The foreign teachers and I take rotations when opening our school library (all the resources are in English), so I told him I’m not due to be in the library until next month. He was sad. But then I told him to why not come and visit me. He came last night and told me that he couldn’t sleep at all Sunday night because he was so nervous and excited about coming. He actually woke up at about 5 AM because of this! When he arrived, he brought a friend, two fruit gifts and a card. He really cracks me up! It’ll be quite an experience in getting to know him.

 

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3341.

I FINALLY got hooked up with our Internet. As of two days ago, we got ADSL installed into the phone lines. YEAH! So now I’ve been able to upload and download stuff that I haven’t been able to. So, first of all, I’ve updated my music playing, so I hope you’ll enjoy the new tunes.

Since I’m probably be going to bed in like 30 minutes, I won’t draw out a long update. However, some important things are: the team and I are doing well, the weather is starting to get dry, windy and cold (winter is coming quickly), classes are great (will tell more later), and life is moving quickly. That’s about it. I’ll share more in the AM. Good night!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3302.

Samaritan Patrols Bridge for China's Lost Souls by Louisa Lim 

Morning Edition, September 5, 2006

The Nanjing Bridge was once hailed as a triumph of Chinese engineering -- the longest road and railway bridge in the world. Now it has a different type of notoriety: The span, which crosses the Yangste River in Nanjing, China, has become a popular suicide spot.The bridge is unbearably hot and noisy and the sun beats down on tourists posing for pictures against the shoulder-high railings. Behind them, it’s a long drop to the muddy, brown waters of the Yangtse. For the past three years, one man has chosen to spend every weekend patrolling the bridge. During the week, Chen Si is a manager in a transport company. But on the weekends, he patrols the span, seeking out the despairing and the depressed to stop them from throwing themselves over the bridge. So far he has saved 99 lives, sometimes even putting his own in danger. "Often it really is a life and death struggle. They’ve already climbed over the railings, and I’m left hanging onto them by an arm. I have to drag them back over," Chen says. "Sometimes after I’ve saved someone, when I’m not paying attention, they jump. And there are those I don’t reach in time."

China's Suicide Epidemic

The juggernaut of economic change has brought with it new pressures: the dismantling of the Communist system has removed old certainties and safety nets provided by the state; support networks have disappeared as people travel farther afield to find work; and then there’s the burden of expectation carried by the only child, a generation without siblings resulting form China’s single-child policy. The result has been a suicide epidemic. Suicide is now the leading cause of death for Chinese men between the ages of 15 and 34. Chen, who is 39, says that today’s young people are emotionally ill-equipped. "When I was young, even though we didn’t have to meat to eat, the suicide rate was very low," Chen says. "Now, even though we all have meat to eat, there’s a lot of jealousy and spiritual emptiness. People are no good at dealing with stress nowadays, particularly the single-child generation."

Chen Si is always on the lookout, his eyes constantly darting back and forth. He has learned the telltale signs of desperation. "From the crowd of people, I’ll single out those who look depressed, those whose psychological pressure is great," Chen explains. "Their way of walking is very passive with no spirit, or no direction. I’ll go and talk to them." As Chen patrols the bridge on his motorbike, a lone figure suddenly catches his eye. It’s a skinny, hunched twenty-something man in dirty clothes carrying a plastic bag. "I can see your mood’s not right," Chen says to the young man. "What’s the matter?" The man tells Chen that he has nowhere to go. He traveled more than a thousand miles to find work but he lost his identity card and can't find a job. "Give me some time," Chen says. "I’ll think of something."

The Power of One

Shi Xiqing owes his life to an encounter with Chen Si on the bridge just a month ago. "I had just got to the bridge and was sitting there," Shi says. "There were a lot of cars, a lot of people. My mind was racing, and I felt dizzy. I wasn’t thinking of anything. I don’t know how he found me. I hadn’t climbed over the railings, but I was already thinking about it, and he knew it." A father of two, Shi Xiqing runs a small recycling shop stripping metal parts from old appliances. His sixteen-year-old daughter fell ill with leukemia eight years ago, and he still owes $15,000 that he borrowed to pay for her treatment. In recent months, he fell behind on his rent payments, then he couldn’t pay his children's school fees.When he no longer had the money to keep his business afloat, the pressure was too much. For his wife, Guo Mingzhou, the implications of that day are still unthinkable. "My daughter said to me, 'If he leaves this world, we should go with him,'" Guo remembers. "We couldn’t go on living. I don’t have any work. I don’t have any skills. Even now I can’t bring myself to think about it."

With his stained, brown teeth and chain-smoking habit, Chen Si seems an unlikely guardian angel. But he’s still watching over this family, phoning them every week, talking to their creditors, thinking up ways to solve their problems. With each new life he saves, Chen's burden grows. His own wife disapproves of the hours he spends on the bridge and his habit of bringing home those he’s saved from suicide. He wishes there was more government support, or even a charity that could help. "What should I do with the people I save? I don’t have that much money," he says. "When I save people, I don’t want to just cheat them into living another day."

From: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5765923

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3277.

Well, not much excitement around here. Yesterday’s classes went smoothly and it was all introduction anyway. I have all new students, so I’m excited about getting to know more of them.

Comparing my China experience from today to a year ago is radically different. I remember feeling last year a “weirdness” and a sense that I didn’t belong. But this year, I feel like I’m home. As if I’ve come back to my old “stomping grounds”. Sure, I still have reminders that I’m not from here – like the constant staring, double-takes and heads violently turning – but overall China has become a part of my life. I look forward to the new challenges that await this year.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3251.

So there hasn’t been much action around here. We’ve just been adjusting to being back in Siping and hangin’ out with each other and our new teammate Katherine. As of today, I only have three classes next week: two Sophomore Orals and a Sophomore Writing. I’ll probably be teaching three or four Freshmen Orals but they don’t began classes until two weeks from now.

On a different note – especially to family – while I was gone for the summer, my phone number was somehow “disconnected”. It was just yesterday that it began working so I’m up for calls.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 3228.