Chinese committing suicide every two minutes

OMG this is incomprehensible!

I read this earlier today and it has been bugging me all day:

TWO-year-old boy was orphaned in the southwest Chinese city of Chongzhou when his parents drank pesticide after a nasty row.

The tragedy, reported in the state media last month, bears testimony to the dark side of reform - suicide rates that are now among the highest in the world.

On average, a Chinese person takes his or her own life every two minutes, giving the world's most populous nation a dismal record as it prepares to celebrate 30 years of otherwise spectacular economic reform.
news article

This is a real issue. What is going on?

With between 250,000 and 300,000 suicides a year, China accounts for about a quarter of the global total, according to medical sources.

It is the only country in the world where more women than men take their own lives, with female suicides representing 58 per cent of the total, they said. (refn)

These are alarming statistics!

The size of China's economy has been rapidly increasing, though some now question whether the cost has been too great, and whether the economy has 'overheated', with side effects such as pollution and a substantial gap between rich and poor worrying many Chinese. Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, has appeared to share these concerns, stating a desire to measure progress not only through GDP growth, but through social surveys.
wiki

Perhaps poverty has a lot to do with it?
No faith too?

I don't believe faith has a part in it. It seems mostly cultural. China has rapidly become a nation bent on competition and profit-seeking which may have happened a little too quickly, and put a little to much pressure on it's people.

In a country where three or even four generations used to live under one roof, the elderly are now abandoned - once an almost unthinkable crime - while rural migrants go to the cities to work, leaving their children behind.

source: news.asiaone.com...

It seems as if this shift in culture may be to blame and I'm guessing it will sort itself out in time (then again, as overpopulation and the economic crunch beckon -- it might not).

like anywhere the reasons will be a combination of variables.

interesting to note women commit suicide more than men in china which is highly unusual. china had (has?) laws on how many children you could have and as i recall males were the favoured choice for expectant parents. this in my mind has to have had some kind of negative psychological effect on chinese women.

reply to post by Oscitate


Yeah with factories closing over there those cities will be way over crowded.

They will be headed back to grandmas with hat in hand

Even with the economic growth a large portion of citizens live in third world conditions. Life for quite a few poeple over there is pretty bleak as it is. Add in the change in cultural views and you have a recipe for people to just give up on life.

there is also the 'lemming' effect (not sure if the 'lemming effect' is something i've read about or something i thought up ... probably the former) where people just see a lot of others doing something and decide they should do it too.

*Off topic*
i had this awful dream once where i was standing below a steep hill and on that hill were these high water tanks. on the tanks were a bunch of teenagers partying it up when one decided to jump to his death and others were following thinking it was all a big joke and great fun.

it was a horrifying dream not only because all these kids were jumping and dying - but because my own big handsome boy was on one of the tanks and waiting to take his turn to jump.

i was screaming and screaming trying to make them stop and get my sons attention but .... well we all know how futile that is in nightmares ...

needless to say i made myself wake up before my son got to the front of the queue.

The prevalence of suicide and mental illness in Asia is not news, though this rate is definitely higher than previously reported. I believe a report released a few weeks ago mentioned South Korea as being the most severe in this respect.

A strange sense of isolation is found in East Asian cultures that are paradoxically considered to be very family-oriented. Among these groups, there is a great concern to maintain tradition, to continue the family lineage, to uphold and enhance the family's reputation. However, this seems to most often exclude emotional sharing and bonding among family members. It is generally taboo to express negative emotions or to speak of mental disturbances. As we know, a great many of us experience these problems at some point. When you deny the normalcy of this and cast such expression as a potential embarrassment or source of shame, people are bound to find unpleasant outlets to relieve the burden. Unfortunately, the East Asian cultures have been very slow to address the problem, ostensibly maintaining that there is in fact NOT a problem. They are slowly coming around, though, and it seems that the younger generations are becoming more cognizant and tolerant of emotional expression.

The typical Asian work ethic does not make matters any better. As has been mentioned already, these cultures emphasize hard work and success on a level that Western cultures do not. This is the primary factor in their immense success on the business front (particularly in technology) but it has been detrimental to the emotional health of the populace.

This all adds up to a perfect storm.

Edit to add: Several of my friends are from countries in East Asia; they spend time in the U.S. and their home countries, but were raised primarily in Asia. We once had a discussion about this issue and they were quick to confirm these stories. One of the girls attended all but the final two years of secondary school in her home country. She mentioned that student suicides were very common in her school and that this was the norm (she is from Taiwan). She said that she just wasn't cut out for that sort of pressure and asked her parents to allow her to come to a boarding school in America. Being progressive parents, they acquiesced. Every other participant in this conversation (there were five from East Asia, in total) stated that the same was true in their own regions (South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan).


[edit on 9/12/08 by paperplanes]

Originally posted by ll__raine__ll
there is also the 'lemming' effect (not sure if the 'lemming effect' is something i've read about or something i thought up ... probably the former) where people just see a lot of others doing something and decide they should do it too.

The "herd mentality" is well documented in the news with people stampedes and the like. IMO Humans are very intelligent creatures when alone or in small groups but when you get enough of them in one area they revert to being mindless grazing animals. Look at the situation in NJ at the WalMart black friday sale. That was a "herd mentality" incident where a bunch of people started to stampede and act like animals with no regard for anyone over something trivial. But I do not think that this is the case in China. I believe it is a combination of living conditions and the paradigm shift in their culture.

reply to post by ShAuNmAn-X


yes that's a good example of what i was thinking about.

and when looking for possible causes for any thing or event ... i usually think it's a combination of factors too. some of those factors being more significant than others granted ... but there all the same.

china is undergoing a transitional process and far behind a mature society. especialy the rapid economic progress gave rise to the imbalance in society and mentality. people always feel lost in failure of cause,marriage,job,etc. maybe its the pain that must be experienced during grow-up. i dont know if no faith should take part of the reason,but i guess religion would be useful to relieve ppl's presure or anguish.

i for one chinese have the idea of suicide flashed sometime either, haha.

Originally posted by ll__raine__ll
like anywhere the reasons will be a combination of variables.

Yes... seems that China's variables are a recipe for disaster.

interesting to note women commit suicide more than men in china which is highly unusual. china had (has?) laws on how many children you could have and as i recall males were the favoured choice for expectant parents. this in my mind has to have had some kind of negative psychological effect on chinese women.

Yes, I agree. The 'one child policy' has long term side effects:
Side effects on female population



[edit on 9-12-2008 by Thurisaz]

Originally posted by ShAuNmAn-X
I believe it is a combination of living conditions and the paradigm shift in their culture.

My Daughter is in HK at the moment (again) and she is actually dreading going into China quite simply due to the poverty. A group of people were following her around asking for money last time she went.

These people are so desperate that they deliberately burn themselves to try to escape the poverty. Trying to find ways of getting into HK, then injure themselves so they can stay in HK.

It is so sad and very disturbing when you consider China's exports. The shift to become the largest exporter and the most competitive, (people are working for 19c an hour); it has come at a huge cost to the people of China. This would be the shift in their culture as paperplanes explains:

Originally posted by paperplanes

The typical Asian work ethic does not make matters any better. As has been mentioned already, these cultures emphasize hard work and success on a level that Western cultures do not. This is the primary factor in their immense success on the business front (particularly in technology) but it has been detrimental to the emotional health of the populace.

This all adds up to a perfect storm.

This must contribute to the alarming suicide rates.

Originally posted by Oscitate
I don't believe faith has a part in it. It seems mostly cultural.

This is one thing I do question. The absence of faith or religion may compound it?

Faith comforts people during times of crisis so without faith, what has the individual got?



[edit on 9-12-2008 by Thurisaz]

How many people in China? A billion and a half? When human life becomes so plentiful, it cannot help but become very cheap.

reply to post by starviego



well, I hope people don't think like that?

But, perhaps as there are so many people, it doesn't matter?