Yesterday as I was walking passed the Suzhou University near Donghuan Lu, I saw a young girl cradling this young man in her lap. They were in the bike lane at the side of the road. His body was lifeless and she was gently patting him as she sat there. She seemed very calm. There was a flaky looking young lady beside her that didn’t seem to be doing anything apart from holding some shopping and then to my amazement took a picture of them both lying on the ground. As I walked passed them I didn’t see any obvious signs of trauma, there was no blood on him but there was also no signs of life.
Everyone that passed them, whether it be on the motorbikes or walking stopped to have a look, but no one helped. I did not help either but then what could I do. I can’t even speak the language well enough never mind diagnose the problem and then maybe phone for an ambulance, what is the Chinese for 999? I must admit I was fascinated by the whole incident as morbid as it may sound. I was wondering why the girl holding the boy wasn’t on the phone calling an ambulance, maybe she had. Eventually another young girl stopped and took the boys arm to see if he had a pulse, well that’s what it look like. But there was little reaction from her also. She did however turn to flaky girl and tell her to go across the road for something and so she did with shopping in hand and then nearly got hit by a bus. After a few minutes she came running back with shopping in hand and was promptly told to go back again. I guess 10 mins a had passed and I hadn’t see a phone call being made or anyone else lending a hand.
I decided that my morbid curiosity would not be satisfied as I was not prepared to watch any longer.
A few weeks previously I was walking to the bus stop on the same part of town. As I reached the but stop I noticed, well heard this white AMG Mercedes first of all and then I saw it rip passed the bus stop at warp speed. A common sight in Suzhou and as night falls, many of these kid boy racers come out to play. Now bear in mind that most of the drivers in China are shit and it is a very small minority that can actually drive with any due care and attention.
My bus arrives a short while later and on I go, I grab a window seat and connect to the free WiFi so that I can see what has been happening with The Donald. After about 5 mins we are stopped at a set of lights but it’s obvious that something else is going on. I’m on the drivers side of the bus and we are about to pass the white AMG Mercedes which is parked diagonally across the road blocking off one lane. There are about 15 people gathered and they are all discussing something. A short distance away on the ground lies a young guy in his 20’s staring into space, motorbike lying behind him but again no sign of life. The bus is stopped for at least 3 or 4 minutes and again I’m fascinated that no one is with the boy on the ground, but then again if he is dead why worry. The boy is lying on his side and his head is resting on his arm and at first I’m thinking he must be really hurt and they don’t want to move him, but no one is with him. The longer the bus sits there, the more my eyes are drawn to the young man on the floor and then I realise that his eyes are wide open and they have not blinked once, he hasn’t moved, I think he’s dead.
So I’m not sure if the AMG was involved in all of this or he was just a good Samaritan taking control of the situation but either way it is still very different from the way this situation would have been dealt with in the UK or Australia for instance.
Death is of course is the final leveler for us all and will come to us in different ways, we can’t avoid it. But I’m hoping that it will be a while before he comes knocking at my door. To be honest I’m very surprised that I haven’t seen more death in China while I’ve been here because as I’ve mentioned many times the driving here is dreadful, but not only that it’s the way people move across streets without looking. They don’t seem to have any idea of the risk to their life’s, they just don’t think through the decision before they make it. I guess the only way you can really know what I’m talking about is to come here and see for yourself.