The Chinese language metropolis of Nanjing is residence to about 9.3 million folks, making it the thirteenth most populous metropolis within the nation. It’s positioned within the jap a part of China (right here’s a map) and straddles the Yangtze River. Like most cities with a river that runs by way of it, Nanjing is residence to some bridges, with the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (above) maybe probably the most notable. Sadly, this bridge holds a doubtful distinction: it’s usually cited as the house to probably the most suicide makes an attempt anyplace on the planet.
Which is why Chen Si, pictured beneath with the bridge within the background, is extensively thought-about a hero.
In 2000, Chen, then age 22, was strolling throughout the bridge, not considering a lot concerning the bridge or its doubtful place in historical past. However because the Bangkok Publish reported, his life modified that day: “he noticed a girl — a younger migrant employee like himself — on the sting, 70 meters (230 toes) above the water, crying and considering leaping. After he stopped to speak, the lady climbed down and Chen realized he could inadvertently have saved a life.” And he will need to have felt an excessive amount of delight from that unintended good deed, as a result of for the two-plus a long time since, Chen has been returning to the bridge to assist others in misery.
As NPR reported in 2008, Chen has spent most of his weekends traversing the bridge, “searching for out the despairing and the depressed to cease them from throwing themselves over the bridge.” Figuring out these in want was a talent he developed rapidly; per a New York Occasions article, ‘”It is rather straightforward to acknowledge,’ he stated of potential jumpers. ‘An individual walks with out spirit.’” He approaches these he deems in danger and talks to them, exhibiting them that somebody certainly cares and is keen to assist. He’s not at all times profitable — he has, sadly, witnessed folks bounce — however he at all times tries, and sometimes with good outcomes. NPR relays one such success story:
As Chen patrols the bridge on his bike, a lone determine out of the blue catches his eye. It’s a thin, hunched twenty-something man in soiled garments carrying a plastic bag.
“I can see your temper’s not proper,” Chen says to the younger man. “What’s the matter?”
The person tells Chen that he has nowhere to go. He traveled greater than a thousand miles to search out work however he misplaced his identification card and might’t discover a job.
“Give me a while,” Chen says. “I’ll consider one thing.”
And as a rule, the folks he comes throughout does, in truth, give Chen the time to assist. At occasions, Chen will deliver the folks he’s making an attempt to assist residence with him, to affix in a meal with a pleasant face or two. When one would-be jumper advised him that she was depressed as a result of she didn’t have the cash to pay her college tuition, Chen, a transportation supervisor with restricted means, helped her increase the ten,000 yuan ($1,400) she wanted. And he’s additionally used this personal cash to assist folks dealing with homelessness lease an condominium. His work, he advised the press, doesn’t finish on the bridge — as a result of some folks will simply return to the bridge if the underlying points aren’t addressed.
And people who aren’t persuaded by Chen’s outreach? He doesn’t surrender on them, both. Because the South China Morning Publish reported, “he has additionally pulled folks again from the sting and assisted in rescuing those that have already jumped into the river.”
As of July 2024, Chen has saved an estimated 469 folks. In 2015, he was the topic of a documentary filmmaker who dubbed him the “Angel of Nanjing,” a title properly deserved.