Note: here China refers to the mainland of China
A Chinese netizen posts as the comment of the news about this scandal: I preserves all the comments. I feel heart-broken when I read the news. It would be a historic scandal of China. This heart-broken event happened last year, but now it turns a hot topic again. And some people even think that another scandal exposes itself about it.
On Oct. 24, last year, the 3 students of Yangtze University, Ji Shi Chen, Dong Xu He, Zhao Fang, scarificed their young life due to try to rescue two drowning children when they was picnicking with the other 12 classmates in Jingzhou Ba Ta Bay, a section of the Yangtze River.
At that time, this news was sensational in China. When those students saw two children drowning, they hold hands by hands to form a chain to try to rescue two children. But the water divided their hands and they dropped into the water too. There were fishermen with boats at the site. The fishermen said that they had tried to rescue those students, and some people said that they were indifferent and refused to help. In this scandal, they were not important. At this time, a group of winter swimmers heard “help” and came here in a hurry. They were older men. They rescued some dropped students, but they couldn’t find those 3 students in the water. People called the police, firemen and the hospital. Those people came and said that they had no equipment to salvage those students. The police told the students on shore to call Jingzhou City 8 Ling Salvage Services Company to do it.
Then they called that company. That company came and started to salvage the missing students but charged RMB12,000 for one body.
The students and teachers didn’t have that much money in hand. They gathered RMB4,000 and gave to Mr. Bo Chen, the boss of the company. The first body was handed to the school. The staff of that company found the second body and hold it with a rope under the water. They said that the school didn’t give them enough money so they refused to hand this body to the school. Below is the picture, which got a “Golden Lens” award, the highest honor of China News Photo with full votes recently, named “rely on dead asking for price”. Some people say that this photo shows the sick and dirty side of Chinese society.
The photo below is that the second body was handed to the school on shore. The students etc. sent the second body to the hospital in a hurry. At that time, the staff from that company were waiting their boss’s orders and refused to salvage. They said that they hadn’t got all the money.
At that time, I read some reports. It’s said that this Salvage Services company has been monoplizing the “business” of salvaging the bodies in the section of Yangtze University. If other fishermen salvage the body, this company would break their boats and burnt their nets. Even a man from the winter swimmer who had rescued the students said that the boss company had threaten him saying that: you are damaging my business. And the man in a white shirt on the boad said that he just got RMB530 for this salvage. Did the boss get the rest of the total: RMB36,000? Some people speculated that the company must have some official background and some officers may get the most of the money.
After a few months passing by, it seems that the thing is over. But, since the photo got this reward, Yu Quan Li, the top leader of the Communist Party Propaganda Department of Yangtze University seems quite upset. The Communist Party Propaganda Department of Yangtze University even requested the judging panel to cancel the award. His argument is that the men on the boat were trying to get close to the shore, bla, bla. It seems that that man in white can be one of the heros who rescued the students and the media were making the story. People are confused. At this time, the auther of the photos emerged. He showed nearly a hundreds of photos he took at that scence. I saw some of them and in my opinion, no doubt at all, the photo should get that reward and should be named “Rely on dead asking price”. Some people even said that those students might come to life if this company didn’t waste so much time. Here is one of those photos, the staff in white hold a rope waiting for their boss to get all the money they charged. At the other end of the rope, under the water, it’s the body of the student who dropped in the water due to try to rescue two drowning children.
Every time, I see those photos, my heart is broken too. Thanks for people who invent effective cameras, the Internet. Thanks for the author who has to leave his hometown, the city the things happened, for those photos. Otherwise, we can’t see those people’s real dirty face and even we may call those brazen peoples heros.
It’s past midnight. I will check this blog tomorrow in case there are some mistakes.
Reference:
《挟尸要价》照片作者公布全套作品否认作假