Hanging On--One man’s mission to save lives in Nanjing

　　Nanjing’s Yangtze River Bridge used to be the pride of China – its 4.5-kilometer span was once the longest in the world. And while it’s no longer the only bridge in town – a new bridge crosses the river downstream – the bridge has a new claim to fame: its Good Samaritan.

　　Chen Si’s mission is to save people from committing suicide. The one hundred-meter-high bridge attracts the lost and lonely who go there to throw themselves into the coffee-colored waters far below. What drives Chen to prevent people killing themselves? "All I want to do is to give those desperate people some hope," he says.

　　Chen has seen his share of hardship since his mother abandoned him at the age of six. He began coming to the bridge after he read reports about the suicides in local papers and was shocked when he read about a migrant worker who had fallen from the top of a building after the crowd below encouraged him to jump. "We have to teach people to love and treasure life," said Chen, who earns a living selling small commercial signs.

　　Chen has stopped forty people from taking their own lives. "Women are easy to deal with," he said. "You can talk to them and try and get them to cry out their pain. The men, I have to tackle because they seldom listen and can be very strong," he said. He arrives shortly after dawn on the weekends and patrols the bridge until sundown. He spends the days looking for clues in the souls of strangers, particularly watching solitary people staring down at the water. "Potential jumpers are very easy to recognize," he said. "They walk without spirit."

　　With suicide now the leading cause of death for Chinese between 15 to 34, Chen insists that he comes to the bridge because someone needs to. At least 1,000 people are believed to have jumped since it opened in 1968. "I've only got one pair of hands but if I can save one life, then that's one life," he says.

　　南京的长江大桥曾经是中国的骄傲──它4.5公里的桥幅曾经是全世界最长的。虽然它已经不是市里惟一的桥了──有一座新桥横跨长江的下游──这座桥却有另一个饱享盛名的原因：它是个行善者。

　　陈思的任务是拯救生命，不让人们自杀，这座100米高的桥吸引迷失和寂寞的人，他们到那里跳进下面的咖啡色河水中。让陈思跑去防止人们自杀的原因是什么呢？“我只想给那些绝望的人一点希望。”他这样说。

　　自从母亲在他6岁的时候拋弃他之后，陈思看尽了艰难的日子。他在当地报纸看到自杀的报道后开始跑到桥上来；当他看到关于一位民工的消息时非常震惊，这个工人在底下的群众鼓励他跳之后，就从建筑顶端坠落。“我们必须教导大家爱惜生命。”靠销售小型广告标志维生的陈这样说。

　　陈已经阻止了40个人自杀。“女性比较容易应付。”他这样说，“你可以和他们谈谈，试着让她们把痛苦大声哭出来。如果是男人，我就得抱住他们，因为他们很少听得进去，而且可能很强壮。”他这样说。他周末的时候在日出后不久就抵达这里，在桥上巡查到日落为止。他把这些时间花在寻找陌生人灵魂中所显露出的线索上，特别是一些寂寞的人往下望着河水。“有可能跳河的人很容易看出来。”他说，“他们走起路来会没精打采。”

　　自杀现在高居15岁到34岁的中国人死因之冠，陈思坚持到桥上来的原因是因为总得有人这么做。自从它长江大桥在1968年开通以来，椐信至少有1000个人跳江。“我只有一双手，但是我救一条命，算一条命。”他这样说。