WARNING: THIS ARTICLE IS A CROSS-CULTURAL LESSON,
NOT AN ATTACK ON CHINESE CULTURE. READ CAREFULLY
TWO BRIDGES – TWO CULTURES
This is a story of two bridges on opposite sides of the world, one in China, one in California It is also a story of the difference between Chinese culture and American culture.
These two bridges are dissimilar in not only size, (one rather large, and the other one very small) and aesthetics; they also share no similarity in design or capacity. Even the distance from the bridge to the water below is radically different.
Although dissimilar in size, design, construction and capacity, they share more than the commonality of being bridges; they are both preferred by people who have decided to take their own lives through suicide. Mentally disturbed people, who have come to believe that the pain of living far outweighs the fear of dying, decide to climb the structures and jump to their deaths. With eight attempted suicides per month the Haizhu Bridge has earned the nickname “Suicide Bridge.”
HAIZHU BRIDGE
(PICTURE CHANGED DUE TO STUDENTS’ COMMENTS)
Every time someone climbs the bridge to jump, it disrupts traffic because the lookie-loos, rubber-neckers and gawkers slow to observe the spectacle of death. Government officials have tried posting guards on the bridge and posting signs, both to no avail. As a last resort the bridge has been greased to inhibit climbing the superstructure. The language of the signs is very telling about the different cultural approaches to the identical problem found on opposite sides of the globe. The sign on Haizhu Bridge translates to DO NOT DISRUPT TRAFFIC. FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE TO KILL YOURSELF.
In 2009 a would be jumper received a helping hand from a senior citizen. The senior stated that he pushed the jumper over the edge because he was frustrated with the selfishness and attention seeking of the jumper. Two bridges, two cultures, one problem, similar solution with one major cultural difference – in San Francisco the primary cultural concern is on saving lives. In Gunagzhou, the primary cultural concern is on maintaining proper traffic flow. (If you have ever experienced rush hour in Guangzhou you may be able to appreciate this better.) A Guangzhou Government official was asked why the City did not provide psychological counseling to would be jumpers and to take other measures to prevent suicides. The answer was clear and simplistic. A person who has decided to commit suicide has already determined that their life is worthless so why should the Government invest any money in saving a worthless life? In San Francisco bridge workers risk their lives to save the life of a mentally ill person intent on ending their life. In Guangzhou it is preferred that you kill yourself in a less public location, at least one that will not disrupt traffic.
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
The Golden Gate Bridge is not only the most popular place to commit suicide in the United States but the most popular in the entire world. The deck is approximately 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpers hit the water at some 76 miles per hour (122 km/h). At such a speed, water has proven to take on properties similar to concrete. Because of this, most jumpers die on their immediate contact with the water. The few who survive the initial impact generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.
An official suicide count was kept, sorted according to which of the bridge’s 128 lamp posts the jumper was nearest when he or she jumped. By 2005, this count exceeded 1,200 and new suicides were averaging one every two weeks. For comparison, the reported second-most-popular place to commit suicide in the world, Aokigahara Forest in Japan, has a record of 78 bodies, found within the forest in 2002, with an average of 30 a year.There were 34 bridge-jump suicides in 2006 whose bodies were recovered, in addition to four jumps that were witnessed but whose bodies were never recovered, and several bodies recovered suspected to be from bridge jumps. The California Highway Patrol removed 70 apparently suicidal people from the bridge that year.
There is no accurate figure on the number of suicides or successful jumps since 1937, because many were not witnessed. People have been known to travel to San Francisco specifically to jump off the bridge, and may take a bus or cab to the site; police sometimes find abandoned rental cars in the parking lot. Currents beneath the bridge are very strong, and some jumpers have undoubtedly been washed out to sea without ever being seen. The water may be as cold as 47 °F (8 °C).
The fatality rate of jumping is roughly 98%. As of 2006, only 26 people are known to have survived the jump. Those who do survive strike the water feet-first and at a slight angle, although individuals may still sustain broken bones or internal injuries. One young man survived a jump in 1979, swam to shore, and drove himself to a hospital. The impact cracked several of his vertebrae.
Engineering professor Natalie Jeremijenko, as part of her Bureau of Inverse Technology art collective, created a “Despondency Index” by correlating the Dow Jones Industrial Average with the number of jumpers detected by “Suicide Boxes” containing motion-detecting cameras, which she claimed to have set up under the bridge. The boxes purportedly recorded 17 jumps in three months, far greater than the official count. The Whitney Museum, although questioning whether Jeremijenko’s suicide-detection technology actually existed, nevertheless included her project in its prestigious Whitney Biennial.
Various methods have been proposed and implemented to reduce the number of suicides. The bridge is fitted with suicide hotline telephones, and staff patrol the bridge in carts, looking for people who appear to be planning to jump. Iron workers on the bridge also volunteer their time to prevent suicides by talking or wrestling down suicidal people.The bridge is now closed to pedestrians at night. Cyclists are still permitted across at night, but must be buzzed in and out through the remotely controlled security gates.Attempts to introduce a suicide barrier had been thwarted by engineering difficulties, high costs, and public opposition. One recurring proposal had been to build a barrier to replace or augment the low railing, a component of the bridge’s original architectural design. New barriers have eliminated suicides at other landmarks around the world, but were opposed for the Golden Gate Bridge for reasons of cost, aesthetics, and safety (the load from a poorly designed barrier could significantly affect the bridge’s structural integrity during a strong windstorm).
Strong appeals for a suicide barrier, fence, or other preventive measures were raised once again by a well-organized vocal minority of psychiatry professionals, suicide barrier consultants, and families of jumpers after the release of the controversial 2006 documentary film The Bridge, in which filmmaker Eric Steel and his production crew spent one year (2004) filming the bridge from several vantage points, in order to film actual suicide jumps. The film caught 23 jumps, most notably that of Gene Sprague as well as a handful of thwarted attempts. The film also contained interviews with surviving family members of those who jumped; interviews with witnesses; and, in one segment, an interview with Kevin Hines who, as a 19-year-old in 2000, survived a suicide plunge from the span and is now a vocal advocate for some type of bridge barrier or net to prevent such incidents from occurring.
On October 10, 2008, the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors voted 14 to 1 to install a plastic-covered stainless-steel net below the bridge as a suicide deterrent. The net will extend 20 feet (6 m) on either side of the bridge and is expected to cost $40–50 million to complete. However, lack of funding could delay the net’s construction.
The above is quoted from Wikipedia
It’s difficult, or even improbable,to define exactly what Chinese culture is.To compare Chinese culture and American culture is a much more formidable task.As we don’t have the advance ability to know what a person is thinking,how can we find out how a different culture affect the behavior of its people?There is no significant relations between the culture to the dominant values of life.
The rapid development of economy won’t make the issue any better. While the modernity is progressing rapidly,the nihilism is progressing rapidly.As a result,people can’t know the right from wrong for there is no criterion which everyone agreed to adopt.
Vincent your post was insulting, demeaning and vulgar. You are a Lingnan student but your actions would indicate that you belong back in kindergarten. I am not a babysitter so consider yourself expelled from my class. There is a warning thread on this site. You should have read it but even without reading it you should be civilized at your age.
Dear sir,
I’m Vincent Class 4C. I received your mail and now i knew what mistakes i made in my comments. I’m regretted i didn’t read the warning.
I received one mail telling us to comment two bridges-two cultures and had nothing about the other articles. I knew little about the rules and made a big mistake in the comments.
No excuse, i should have read the warning. As you said, my posts were insulting, demeaning and vulgar.
I would like to apologize to you for my comments. I will never make sucn kinds of mistakes again and learn to be civilized!
Hope that you could give me a chance to be correct my mistakes.
Best,
Vincent
Vincent:
Why do you even need to read the warning post?
You are an adult and you should know better by now.
Sir
Sorry, i’m really not mean to insult anyone. But i know that my behaviour has caused uncomfortable feelings. I behaved bad this time, i would apologzie to all the classmates if necessary.
Now i’ve learned a big lessen. Hope you can give me a chance to give a new comment on the article.
As you said, i’m an adult. I’ll always remember this in my heart!
Vincent
From the article, the two cultures take different measures to the people who want to suicide. I think it reflect different cultures between US and China. But I don’t think the two bridges are “Suicide Bridges.” People who choose the two bridges to suicide, they want to attract more attention. Because the two bridges are famous for suicide.
It is known to all that these two bridges are very different,to some extent, they also demonstrate the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.However, we should not look at the problems too lopsided.Although they are both famous for “Suicide Bridg” which preferred by people who have decided to take their own lives through suicide,it can not represent the full different values between China and Western countries. The West has always attached importance to safeguarding human rights,which is very worthwhile to promote.But it does not means that the Chinese government dosen’t regard of human life. Whatever the circumstances, we should analyze specific issues, such findings will not be too hasty.
It’s a good deed for USA to solve the suicide problem on the Golden Gate Bridge.”In Gunagzhou, the primary cultural concern is on maintaining proper traffic flow. ” In fact, Maybe in China, it’s not only a suicide problem. The men who climbed the structures just wanted to appeal his problem , not real suicide. So people are not offish to death. And there are also volunteers to prevent suicides in China, like on the brigde of Long River in NanJing which is a real suicide bridge. I’ve got it by an article written by an English reporter.
Certainly,I am shocked when I heard that an old man pushed him into the water, but that is a haphazard which can’t represent all of Chinese, and now the muderer already deeply repented of his errors and is punished by police.
So actually that event is different with another bridge in USA.
I don’t know the other side of the world quite well. So let me just talk about only one side, the Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou China.
I feel sorry to the man who climbed up the bridge to jump. He must had met some troubles, and he couldn’t find other ways out.
This article said that” in San Francisco the primary cultural concern is on saving lives. In Guangzhou, the primary cultural concern is on maintaining proper traffic flow. “I think it is not the truth. In fact, at the beginning, people who climb the Haizhu Bridge and jump to their deaths did attract many people’s attention, including the government. And the government had helped many of them to solve their problems. From then on, more and more people hope they can draw official attention and help them through this way. Many of them have no mental illnesses at all. And then the public became used to this kind of matter and be numb.
I think the most important problem is that our China is a developing country, and many social systems are not mature, like the social welfare system. Chinese people have fewer mediums to solve problems than the developed country like America. But China has been developed better and better nowadays.
Anyway, I love China. I love Chinese Culture. I will grow up together with dear China.
“Culture shock” is really a good word to express the feelings in cross-cultural communication, which doesn’t only mean the communication between two person but the clash of different civilization. “Valuing same opinion, sharing different point” —-the principle of international interaction raised by Premier Zhou was thought highly by many politicians all over the world, but there is a question that what we should have in common and what we should keep for ourselves and how to make the decision. Samuel Huntington pointed that the clash of politics and economics were all because of the clash of civilization. In the clash of civilization, the power is not usually balanced very well, which lead to an imbalance in cultural influence through the world. And in this open-minded world, the imbalance is usually carved into every single person’s sense of value and so on. In my opinion, even we can’t make the power more balanced, we can make our own effort to protect everyone’s right to express what he\she is thinking about, and make a judgment by your own mind, then put your thought into practice to make the world better and more equal.
Anyway, thanks for your attention to the social reality of China. We all care about our country, as someone described the younger Chinese that we consciously integrate the ideals of the whole nation into our personal pursuit. So please not to worry about us.I think most of us can be a good teacher or a good parent of China’s next generation.
After reading your email, I have been meshed in thought! what you have mentioned cannot just been explained by” different country have different culture”! In my opinion, this situation has more relationship with the economy reform in china. Since China adopted the reform and opening-up policy in late 1978, our country has indeed undergone tremendous changes in all parts of our life. Some people make a huge fortune overnight, while others are still on their uppers. The problem of the growing disparities in wealth has becoming more and more serious.
We also cherish our lives. China has been the leader in world for thousands of years until modern times. To a certain extent, the desire for powerful has never been be so strong in our sprit. What you have talked about in your article is just the phenomenon of the transitional period! I deeply believe that when china has a more robust legal mechanism, and Social Security System, everybody would live in harmony!
Chinese culture and American culture are somewhat different, but the clash of cultures does not mean that a culture good or bad. Of course, the events that the article reactionde did raise the Government’s attention. For some domestic issues such as health care, housing, education, the state has have a high priority. In view of China’s specific national conditions, a large population, so it will take some time to solve the problems. As a graduate student, we have the responsibility and obligation to care about national issues. In short, I think we do not reject American culture, but it must be acknowledged cultural differences between the two countries.
I think the story of two bridges showed the differences between Chinese culture and American culture. In my opinion, American culture paid more attention to “each”, whereas Chinese culture paid more attention to “all”. When someone climbed the bridge to jump, American culture built a suicide net under the bridge to save life, while Chinese culture wrote “DO NOT DISRUPT TRAFFIC”. Karl Marx said,“The Free Development of Each Is the Condition for the Free Development of All”. The relationship of “each” and “all” is intrinsic to human society, and various conflicts are contained in such relation.
To some extent, the two bridges are beautiful scenes, unfortunately, they got to the “dead land” where many people lost their lives.
On one hand， the differences between China and America is not just the gaps of culture, more important is the national environment. China has a larger population than America, so the government doesn’t have enough energy to take care of everyone, What China do is for majority interest. For China, the order is much more crucial than the one’life.
On the other hand，I think the life is precious and everybody can own it for once, he/she can be cherished himself/herself.
Isn’t it really two bridges-two cultures?
To be honest, two bridges (the Haizhu Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge) are different and have different culture background. However, as to the governments to deal with the question of suicide, are they really related to the cultures?
In my opinion, two bridges are located in different countries and each country has different national conditions. To a certain extent, it is reasonable for each country to take the corresponding policies according to their own national conditions. Maybe the decisions-making of two governments are right. The key to the problem is that we should proceed from reality, explore the feasibility plan together and reference good measures each other.
As the author said, there were no judgments or opinions expressed in the article, it just told two different stories happened on the two bridges. But in my fallowing comment, I wanna say something, may be some immature thoughts, analyses or judgments based on the truth the article shown to us. I have read the reports on the newspaper before but paid no more attention to it. At first, I took the same side on the news reports and talked to myself,”what a ridiculous and risky way to drawing attention”. Then, I felt bad. Because the people who chose such way to suicide themselves or draw attention were nobody in this modern mushrooming but uneven developing country, they faced so many difficulties in their lives but they could not find a appropriate and effective way to save them out. Maybe all the would be suicide people were really having a performance, but why? If turning to the government for help worked in most of the cases, if there were some non-governmental organization which could lend a helping hand to them, if they got more choices instead of paying their lives? The answer? I didn’t know. Is the first time I saw the posting signs on the Haizhu bridge from the government officials. I am shocek. The haughty, superior and unconcerned tone makes me unpleasant and bitterly disappointed. But it is not an odd thing in China today. I just finished an article before posting my comments ,which is discussing the rebuilt of our culture, I think there is a long way to go, but I won’t be disappointed, I guess.
In my opinion, it’s true that there are many differences between Chinese and western cultures. As a Chinese graduate, we should face and try to comprehend them in a proper view instead of invading them.
The author listed several examples of the strange words and deeds of the Chinese government in his article. Truly, it’s just the trait of the Chinese government. China has a large population which makes up a extremely complex society in China. So, when there occurs shocking event, the Chinese government may have to shield the truth of the case in order to keep the stable order of the society .But most of that practice is not proper enough for the civilian. I think that is urgent for the Chinese government to improve itself and I believe they can do better in the future.
By the way, the author said the majority of students in Chinese Studies majors will eventually be employed as the teachers of China’s next generation. It’s fact indeed. But they also can work as journalists, bosses of companies, officer and so on. Most of them know how to live a proper life of themselves. Anyway, we still need learn many things in the college, especially English which will be great help in our employee life.
When I finished the reading of the article above, the question jumped out in my mind is that if I come across the suicide accident at Haizhu Bridge, what am I going to do？Maybe I will walk up to the one who is climbing the bridge and prevent he/she from jumping, but I’m not sure I can persuade he/she.Maybe I will feel so fearful that I just only ask the police for helpbut I’m not sure the police will rush to the scene in time. And what should I do? The point turns to how to concern others’ lives. The solution of The Golden Gate Bridge sets a good sample.
In addition, another problem is whether the person who appear to be planning to jump on Haizhu Bridge really intend to kill themselves, or just express their dissatisfaction with the status and catch someone’s attention.
The author of this article tells us the stories about the two bridges reflecting the different precious things under different present background of China and America. Efficiency is more concerned than a stranger’s life by people in China, while human beings’ lives are commonly cared by everyone in America. People hold different attitudes to suicide at the local bridge because the cultural background and social conditions are different between the two countries.
I heard of the news about Haizhu Bridge the last year when there were a lot of people blaming the old man who push the suicide off the bridge. Actually, I couldn’t judge the action of the old man because his intention was good but his approach was unacceptable.
I really appreciate your efforts of trying your best to display the differences you have observed between Chinese culture and America’s.
Actually I think the topic should not be TWO CULTURES. Culture is a too broad concept and deep down in Chinese culture, we are actually people-oriented. There is an old comparison in China that the ruler is the boat and the people the water. Water is capable of floating the boat as well as turning it over. I know you have demonstrated in your article that you have always been neutral, but when you wrote that America cares the life while Chinese the traffic, the conclusion is too hasty. Maybe we can find some time to discuss each other’s culture. Communication, in my mind, is a better and direct way which could also minimize the misunderstandings.
I heard a lot about the self-suicide issues in China. Astonished first and then confused. It can really make me cry and depressed for a few days. I think people who choose to kill themselves in public places are not trully want to die. They are either psychosis or stranded ones caused by many other difficulties. I guess most of people who choose the Golden Gate bridge belong to the former and the Haizhu bridge suciders belong to the later. It is much easier to save the mental psycho problems than to solve the society problems. It is not the cuture that are different. I believe that human natures are the same, no matter it in America or in Guangzhou or anywhere else.
Simply fit some suicide hotline telephones, or staff patrols the bridge in carts, looking for people who appear to be planning to jump can’t solve sucide problems fundamentally. These are all temporary solutions instead of permanent cures. What Guangzhou government need is a total management of society.
Besides, I don’t think it is all the fault of government. Everyone should shoulder his responsibility to help their friends out. Keep an eye on the abnormality of people around you and give your hand if necessary.
Tha is tree, different cultures in the two countories or rather in these two cities. In Guangzhou, a lot of people from home are busy running about. To the inhospitality of the Government, they also becom cold and feel mental vacancy so that it is interesting to enjoy the death of others.
Chinese culture and American culture are indeed different. The story mentioned by the author reflects there are some defects in Chinese culture such as lack of humanization. But the story just one aspect of Chinese culture and it can not certify that American culture is superior to Chinese culture. Every culture has its own advantages and disadvantages, it is the country’s feature and what we should do is respect it.
Please allow me to change the topic into TWO BRIDGES, TWO GOVERNMENTS. I appreciate the measures your government has taken to protect people’s lives. After your independence of more than 200 years, your government system has grown more mature and sophisticated. On the contrary, our government actually has a long way to go. Maybe after your stay in China for a while, you can also hear people talk about the ” The Sound and The Fury.” China is undergoing a critical period. The 8 people you talked about in your article actually did not plan to commit suicide. They could not find a place to complain of their wrongs and in desperation they resorted to this measure. I have to admit that there are too many things our government needs to improve. I am also glad and willing to discuss this with you.
It’s said that the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors voted 14 to 1 to install a plastic-covered stainless-steel net below the bridge as a suicide deterrent.I really appreciate the efforts the California government had done to prevent suicides,but in my opinion,if we China just copy what the California had done,that’s definitely not enough,and we should know clearly that this kind of phenomenon is caused by a deep-seated social problems,so if we we don’t care about the cause of this phenomenon,we’ll never solve this thorny problem.
This article is thought-provoking. It tells us a story of two bridges on opposite sides of the world, one in China, one in California. There are different attitudes towards people who want to jump from the bridge. It makes me shocked. I am touched by the Americans’ volunteer activities to save the people trying to suicide, and shocked by the ice-cold words on the signs posted by Chinese officials. Why so differences? In my opinion, it is urgent task that every one of us still needs to learn to value a person’s life for us to do. We should pay more attention on others, and value others’ life just like valuing our life. Only in this way can the issue be solved.
To my great surprise,there are so many people who decide to take their own lives through suicide every day all over the world.Life is precious. Whether you are Chinese or Americans or other , we should cherish life because it’s just once for everyone.
According to the article,the author first introduced the physical difference between the two bridges,then,referred to the cultural difference between China and America.Because of the difference of culture ,faced with similar suicide problem,the governments have taken different measures.Though there are many comments on these two measures,I believe the governments’ intention is good.Most importantly, we ourselves should cherish our lives.
Both of the reactions to suicide mentioned in this article are so different from each other. But is it really a culture thing? I just don’t know, maybe it is. In western, especially for Christians, committing suicide is completely horrible. One suicides himself will go to hell and be tortured forever. It’s guilty. That’s possibly why people try to keep people from jumping the bridge in the USA. Saving a life is a fight against guilt. However, in China, we don’t take suicide as guilt. Sometimes, life is really hard for some poor people, maybe it’s better to make it to an end. Maybe it’s paradise waiting for him, who knows? We Chinese take death as a kind of release sometimes. Suicide or not, it’s just a personal choice. You are the boss of your life and you can decide to be alive or dead. So we must looked indifferent and cold-blooded. It’s hard to say whether the differences are something culture-related. For example, debates on euthanasia seems never come to an end even in one country. Both sides hold their own reasons to support it or not, is this a culture thing? Everyone gets different eyes even on the same thing.
And what I really hate is that word “loser”! What’s a loser? No job, no money, and no house in large city, is that a loser? A life is just gone! Whatever the choice he made (jump or not), he’s gone. Why are there always some guys liking to tap the “loser” on the deceased? Can’t they just be respect of the dead? Sorry, I’m a little out of control.
But I’m really shocked by the note on the Haiyin bridge. Is life less important than traffic jam? The government seems pay more attention on traffic but not lifes. I prefer to think this terrible note is nothing more than a mistake.
The last, enjoy your life, if you really can’t, then just try to make it.
The main idea of this passage is to show the great different attitudes of people between China and USA about human rights.According to my experience,Chinese are apt to rank people into defferent levels.Instead,in the west,people are teached to believe that everyone is born equal.It is just this difference attitude towords life makes the different actions when people see a peoson who is going to suicide in Guangzhou and San Francisco.In San Francisco,when people see someone who want to dump into the river,they may think “he is an equal life just like you and me” and want to save him.But in China, the gavorment officers and the pedestrians may think “he must be a loser in
career and life and must lie in low level in the society,so why I should waste my time to rescue him who is a useless person”.It is a common Phenomenon in today’s China and we haved got quite used to that.I don’t know how to change that.Maybe improving the education is a key.
The author compares the difference between two cultures via the attitudes of official and civilians to similar things happened on the bridges. For the suicide on the bridge, the Chinese government just provides the sign “DO NOT DISRUPT TRAFFIC. FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE TO KILL YOURSELF” to prevent someone from suicide on the bridge. They pay more attention on the city traffic, but not the life of people. But in San Francisco the government and other people (such as the Psychiatry professionals, the Golden Gate Bridge Board) take measures to prevent the unfortunate things. They pay more attention to the life of the people, not the traffic efficiency.
The author just describes two cultures. But I want to say something that maybe has no relations with the article itself. In my opinion, life is not easy for everyone, so we must learn to love life, respect life and don’t give up ourselves easily. And at same time, we should try our best to help someone who lose heart in life and want to end up the life. After all, the happiness will come after sufferings. Such as two bridges can stand firm after standing with the winds and rains
Well,this article has brought me into deeply thinking the differece between China and US.In my opinion, this problem is not just in culture, but aslo in economy and system.From the article,it seems that our Chinese shows less respect of life,no doubt that foreigners blame us with the excuse of human right. To some extent, most of those who pretend to suicide is just want to grasp the attention of the public and government,so that they can achieve their personal interest. On the other hand, what the Guangzhou Government official said is also show that our government lacks the service spirit. What they did is just want to supervice the people instead of serving for the people.
To be frank, I think the problem is because of the neglect of spirit construction. we always pay attention to the rapid gtowth of economy, but don’t guide the citizen enough. I strongly suggest that we should learn more from the article so that we can built our country much better.
According to author,diffirent countries maybe have different curtures.In my opinion, China and America in some cultures and social differences are entrenched.Maybe this is why Chinese government and American government have diffirent attitude to suicide at the local bridge.We know, Americans quite advocate the individualis,they think Human rights(including people’s life) is the most important.However, Oriental society (including Chinese) emphasize collectivism,they think when the personal interest and the social interest conflict, the latter is more important.So we can not say which county or which curture is better,we should learn from each other and respect for each other’s cultures.
Even through I have passed the haizhu bridge for several times,I don’t know there happened so many terrible stories .I feel painfuil for the people who have made suicides on the bridge.suicide is a kind of unresponsibility to society, It is our duty to create wealth including culture and material .Once make the stupid suicide.there is no chance for anyone to live back after death,so we all should take right and positive attitude towards lives.
Why? So many made suicides in the past several years. One reason for the tragedy is that more and more people have lose their dreams with no money,no house and no right.most of the people who made suicide are from grassroots-level and live hard.It’s essencially necessary to improve the living standard for all Chinese.Beside,
I think there is no differerces in the cultures but difference in economical development.I believe life will be placed in an important position in the future.
In fact, both bridges are strange to me, so maybe I need to google the two bridges to learn more. Although I don’t know the two bridges quite well, when I read this article I still agree with the warning thread. As the author has said, there were no judgments or opinions expressed in the article, it just told two different stories happened on the two bridges.
As a Chinese, I can understand why the Guangzhou Government official say so. In our country, the population is too big, while the source is too limited, so the life of people is not respected enough .In other words, people nowadays in china have not formed the value tradition of life-respected, maybe this is the failure of education or bad consequence of over-emphasized on economic .on the other side,I wonder why the Americans can be so respectful of life?
To be honest, the sign on Haizhu Bridge is sort of unacceptable especially to those who were trying to commit suicide. As the article says the primary cultural concern should be on saving lives ,not only in America but in China as well.
But the opinion that the two bridges reflects two different cultures is a little exaggerated or say that, one-sided. I’m so sure that no matter how different the two cultures are, they have something in common: people’s life is of greatest importance in both of social values. In my opinion, it is the asininity of some certain local officials that aroused such conflicts. Probably, it’s not proper to judge a country’s culture by such an isolated incident. The lachrymatory life-saving stories which are easily found in China maybe difficult to see for people who stand on the Golden Gate Bridge.
This is such a long article. And it tells us something worth thinking. The difference between the two suicide bridges actually tells us some differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Western countries pay more attention to life than we Chinese do. I think that this has something to do with the culture background. It is not a simple “right or wrong” question.
When I finished reading this article, I feel a bit heavy. I still remember the suicide accident at Haizhu Bridge. In fact, people who choose to jump down from the bridge didn’t really want to give up their life. They just hope that the government or the society can help them solve some problems. Maybe the way they choose is somewhat too extreme. However, life is precious. And so is the life of these people. We should pay more attention to people who is in need of help.
In my eyes, compared with America, China has a little smaller territory but with a larger population, so the sense of importance of one’s life to others in China is not so strong as that in America. As a developing country, there are always some dehumanized things happened without effective solutions, at the same time we have being used to turn a blind eye to several troubles, so does the government. No matter the suicides really wanted to die or not, we government had the answer:” A person who has decided to commit suicide has already determined that their life is worthless so why should the Government invest any money in saving a worthless life?” What we need is just more humanization in our life in every aspect.
The different attitudes are derived from the different culture between the ethnic. Individualism is placed high emphasis in American people while collectivism has huge impact on Chinese people.
It was right then I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty as well as pursuit happiness. Human being has right to enjoy the inalienable right to life. For the reason that human lives are given to priority, American concern is saving lives.
However, Chinese people put emphasis on collectivism, which is stemmed from thousands years ago, being the core of Chinese culture. Climbing the bridge to jump could lead to traffic jam, which harms the benefits of public, so the primary concern is on maintaining traffic flow, not suicide.
In my opinion, life is important more than everything. Cherish life and enjoy it.
The first picture is not Haizhu bridge but Haiyin bridge.
Just a minor correction. :- )
I have read the reports about the suicide in Haizhu Bridge before and got a deep shock. In the period of the so call “social transition”, lots of unimaginable events have occurred and influenced the realms such as morality and psychology. According to the reports I read, the people who want to suicide don’t consider the life is meaningless, but they just can not find a legitimate way to defend their rights. We are trying to reflect on the phenomenon the article has just presented, though it is not a requirement of the author. However, when interpreting the article, we must distinguish the view of the author from our own, and make fair discussions ,just by facts and reasons,with different people whose ways of seeing world are different.
Yes, there always have some differences between two cultures. We eat different foods, educate in different ways and our history and tradition is not similar too, but there still have some comment things. For example, both Chinese and Americans believes this proverb: ”no pains, no gains.”
I’ve heard an English Song called “Suicide is Painless”, this song seems to encourage self-slaughter. And I don’t know why they compose this song, it’s really gloomy.
As for the event of Haizhu Bridge, I’ve read some news before, it really made me sad that some people consider these jumpers as losers and they take the behavior of suicide as a sort of fun. Why are those people so cold? I don’t know, maybe they have different kind of value. People shouldn’t be so selfish and inhospitality. Life is equal, we should respect each life in this world, not only humans but also animals, plants, and any other living things on earth.
We do not have super powers to know what others think.Otherwise,we can solve more social problems.It’s hard to understand human being.The title of the article is “TWO BRIDGES – TWO CULTURES”, the author wanted to talk about the differences between the two cultures.As a Chinese people, I know that it is a part of Chinese traditional culture to cherish our own and other people’s lives.China is a developing country, we need more time to deal with these problems.Each developed country had experienced such a stage of development. These problems exist in every country since ancient times.People around the world must make every effort to reduce the tragedies.
Indeed,there is a difference between Chinese culture and American culture.But people with diverse values have diverse views in the same matter.In my opinion,no kind of culture is right or wrong simply, no kind of culture is advanced or backward.As we know,economy decides social culture.USA is one of the developed countries in the world.It advocates democracy,freedom and human right.It also has a very good political system.However,China is a developing country.In recent years,we can see the goverment of China work hard to improve the polity,ecomomy and culture.China tries to learn the excellent experiences from USA,especially the experience about how to protect the human right.Because of different national conditions between China and USA,there are many different ways to solve risk events.American usually focus on individual,but Chinese preach the social common benefit greater than personal interest.Someone on Haizhu bridge were not want to suicide but to attract the attention of social or news medias in order to help them to solve difficult matter.Their motivations were not pure.Their actions brought adverse influence to the whole social order to seek their benefit.So in our world,the same phenomenon usually has distinct causes.
I have not payed attention to the sign on Haizhu Bridge and I do not know the stories about the two bridges.I saw the pictures in this article and I think they are both beautiful.China is an ancient civilization country,but still a developing country.The United states is the most powerful developed country in the world.There are many differences in culture between them,and the attitude towards suicide is different.This article said that”in SanFrancisco the primary cultural concern is on saving lives.In Guang zhou,the primary cultural concern is on maintaining proper traffic flow”.I think this is maybe just a special example in China.The government could deal with these things well in my hometown and other cities in China.Generally speaking,China really need to develop and improve,China really need to learn from other countries in some ways.As a postgraduate,as a Chinese,we should face and try to comprehend them in a proper view instead of mistaking them.I hope we can exchange culture, learn from each other and create a better life.
First, what about free will？Force sb. to live is really right？If one can’t decide his death, what’s the reason we believe that one can decide his life?I think I will respect the jumper’s feeling and decision and regret for we haven’t make a better world to live in and try to figure out how and what I should do.If one have made a determination to kill himself, changing the place(another bridge, for instance) could be easier than changing the mind for him.
Then, the reason of the solution in GZ is complicated. In my(not my culture’s) opinion, people should follow a commutative principle. Since I respect a man, called A, A’s suicide decision and not to stop him, he should respect me too.He did have to choose some place not bothering other people, because other people like me, had gave him the chance to do what he want. I think that’s how things going. That’s the commutative principle of right and obligation.I will try my best in persuading sb. not to kill himself, but I won’t take actions to prevent it.
Finally, I believe the government will make some efforts to save and help the bridge jumpers because that’s the best way to ensure commuting too. That guy who push the would-be-jumper should be condemned and punnished legally.The pushing guy issue is about individual difference, not culture’s.
Just after reading this article,i am very surprised that so many people want to suicide on the Haizhu Bridge which we often pass by.From the article,we know that different country has different attitude and measure to solve a similar problem. In my opinion ,life is the most precious thing in this world,and every one’s life does not only belong himself but also belong his family,his friends and so on.So when we find a would be jumper,we should try our best to prevent him,and it’s more valueable than regular traffic.
Ideology and culture
The different treatments of suicide reflect the variation of value between China and the West. As the article suggests, no condemnaton or condonation or any value judgement is getting involved in the comparison. It is true that we cannot judge which value should be advocated or claims to be better than the other. Yet the difference in value has its source, and I think the ideology could be the main one.
Ideology is shaped in people’s mind who live in the same community, and it is subject to the social institutions and system which exist in the community together with ideology. Naturally people under different social institutions hold defferent ideologies. It is the same case with China and the West. Since in China, public or collective interest is put in a higher hierarchy and it outweighs any private interst. In general, those acts that collide with the public interest would get legal sanction or condemnation morally. Yet, it is just the reverse in West. Individuals are more being concerned about and private property is sacred and inviolable. The freedom of individual is more stressed in the West than China, obviously (Yet I am not saying that China is regardless of individual’s interest at all or the West the public; instead I just mean the different priorities when it comes to the interest issue). Therefore, in china whoever commits suicide on the bridge is always thought to be a public-disorder maker while in the West his misfortune raises the concern of society. The difference in edeology is just an result of the different social institutions and systems.
At this point maybe we are on longer confused to see why two different cultures come about and certainly there is no need to defense of each other’s “culture”.
Firstly, there is one little mistake in the article. The photo in it is not taken from Haizhu Bridge; instead, it is a picture of Haiyin Bridge, another one that spans the Pearl River in Canton. Haizhu Bridge is an old fashioned, complicated iron bridge. Because of the special structure, most people can climb up via the iron parts to the bars, which are some 10 meters above the roadway.
In the article, the author said, “They are both preferred by people who have decided to take their own lives through suicide.” Probably, it is not the truth. I don’t know much about The Golden Gate Bridge, so I am not going the make any comment about it. As far as I know, none of the person who climb up Haizhu Bridge got injure by their own activity, except for one pushed by a old man. After the incident, the injured man admitted that he had no intention of suicide, and the old man who pushed was strongly condemned by public. That’s a strong evident that people climb up the bridge not to end their lives, but to draw public attention. There is one more phenomenon that supports my opinion; many of the “jumpers” climbed down the bridge as soon as they know that the event is reported by public media.
Apart from the issues above, I think most parts of the article are objective. There are difference in culture between the West and China indeed. Do Chinese people care less about lives than the west? Probably it is true. Maybe the author wants to show that Chinese people care about social order and effectiveness than lives, while people in the west think the opposite way. However, the story of the two bridges may not be a perfect proof, since the motivation of the “jumpers” might be different. At least I got some evidence showing that most “Haizhu Bridge jumpers” just want to raise public attention, not put an end to their lives. Nevertheless, the article still provides a good example showing the cultural differences between China and the west.
EDITOR’S NOTE: EITHER YOU HAVE A READING COMPREHENSION PROBLEM OR YOU SUFFER FROM AN ERRONEOUS ULTRA-NATIONALISTIC VIEW.
Frankly speaking, I am not very agreeing with what the author and the editor said. For one thing, I do believe that it should be a right for a person to choose to end his or her life. So we can not s FROM ANay much about which culture is better. The Chinese culture respect her citizens own determination, which is just a symbol of protecting Human’s Rights, while the American culture restrict people’s freedom to death. How do you know which one is really rewarding? For another, this event happened on Haizhu Bridge cannot be seen as a representative of Chinese culture. There also exists hundreds of thousands of good deeds about one helping others out of danger but finally losing one’s own life. So the occurrence related in this passage cannot represent our Chinese Culture in fact.
As I know, some people who claim to suicide in HaiZhu bridge, just want to attract public attention. Government don’t care about them, so they cannot solve their problems by regular procedure. They have no better choice.
After seeing the sign in HaiZhu bridge “DO NOT DISRUPT TRAFFIC. FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE TO KILL YOURSELF.”, I felt a little disappointed about the government. At the very beginning, government doesn’t care about them. Then the bridge quit them again. Official’s words always tell us that we should love our country. But who will care about an average resident?
I agree with the notion about the Western world, which stress on democracy, freedom and equality. But what I say doesn’t mean I want to deny our country. I just want to say that if we care about our countty, we should pay more attention to our resident. It is them who consist of a country.
In Chinese culture, we also emphasize universal love in the past. But I don’t why people become more apathy than before. Is that we lost our faith? I hope and believe China will change in the future. Maybe we all need a kind of belief.
When I read this article ,the complicated emotions came to me.In the one hand,when Chinese and west country deal with the same thing which related to the one’s life ,the taked measures exist so big difference and maybe exaclty opposite.At the first glance ,the goverment of guangzhou put the sign to tell people who want to jump from the brige find another suitable palce ,so that can prevent form disrupting the traffic .By contrast ,the another goverment take some detail actions to help the jumper and provide more care and pay more attention to them who desire to end the real life.All the shows manifest the different values and people’s rights. On the another hand , as a morden post-graduate ,I just ask myself about the reslity about people’s life and rights . I think we have the special country’s condition and politic system ,all the special things dedcide the results different from the other conutrys . But we must change our traditional method especially in the global trends,we need more rights and more love .
After reading through the article continuously for three times, I’m a little shocked and lost in deep thinking. The value I took for granted since I was born now seems to be faced with great challenge. Besides the two bridges and the suicide issue, I want to talk about something else this article reminds me of.
There exists a quite common phenomenon among our peer friends that, we, the so-called “post 80’”generation, show much indifferent attitude towards politics in our daily lives. However, we do hold strong patriotism as we have been educated to both in school and at home. For instance, we are taught to boycott Japanese goods, oppose capitalism and give wholehearted support to communism and socialism. Referring to this issue, I’d like to share some story that I experienced in Beijing.
During the 2008 Olympic year, I was on my third year of college education. A boycott of the French Carrefour supermarket campaign unfolded a vigorous mass among our classmates. We all entered upon the campaign with great enthusiasm. There were so many volunteers that traffic congestion took place at Zhongguancun Street and stampedes happened now and then. We caused mass, but we still took pride in what we were doing.
Now thinking of this, a lot of queries raise in my mind. What do we contribute to our dear motherland by irrationally taking part in such a campaign? What’s the proper ways for us to express our patriotism? Why do we hold so many biases and prejudices by making a clear distinction between nationalities?……
Maybe the above comments are quite immature, but they do reflect the thinking in my deep heart at the very moment. I believe I can learn more realities about this complex world and gradually develop correct values and world outlook through the processing of our holistic English classes. I deeply appreciate the “Teach to Fish” method! It sets us thinking!