Trends and Buzz

A dozen ways to die in Shanghai

JDM050725suicides.jpg
Jumping off the 32nd floor of the Kerry Center has a success rate of 100%.

Here's a useful tourist map of Shanghai - it labels fourteen choice spots to go kill yourself.

Adapted from a location map for the 2002 4As Creative Awards Roadshow, this image began circulating online last year but has only recently caught the attention of the traditional media. Experts have been trotted out to decry the harmful influence it will have on the youth, and the subway option has attracted quite a bit of attention, since 48 people have been killed that way since 1995. There's a feeling that as suicide methods go, jumping on the rails is particularly irresponsible since it inconveniences so many people. Fortunately the map provides 13 alternatives.

The compiler of this guide remains unnamed, although this guest-book post from June last year bears a remarkable similarity to the info on the map.

The translation below follows the map markers roughly from top to bottom.

Find a place to die
Is it you or the judges who should go to hell? After seeing the 4As exhibition, you'll have your answer.
  1. Huichunji pharmacy sells sleeping pills.
  2. Suzhou rivier is uncovered.
  3. The #57 bus goes directly to the zoo. You can jump into a tiger's mouth and die.
  4. The Kerry Center is 32 stories tall. Jumping off is 100% successful.
  5. A manhole cover has been stolen - jump into the sewer and drown.
  6. Cars under the Yan'an Road viaduct drive very fast. Accidents happen often.
  7. Changshou Road subway station - lie on the tracks.
  8. Fuxing Park - hanging yourself is simple among the tall, close trees.
  9. Barber stand at 1324 alley - steal a razor and cut your throat.
  10. High-voltage power lines - with 20,000 volts, electrocution is convenient.
  11. Wang's Tofu Stand - crush yourself with a piece of tofu.
  12. Dafa Gardens construction site - there's always something falling.
  13. Filling station - death by self-immolation.
  14. Free and Easy Sauna - death by suffocation.

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