{"id":12028,"date":"2016-10-21T13:20:13","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T13:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=12028"},"modified":"2016-10-21T13:28:42","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T13:28:42","slug":"young-chinese-women-are-committing-suicide-at-a-terrifying-rate-heres-why-by-yuan-ren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=12028","title":{"rendered":"Young Chinese women are committing suicide at a terrifying rate &#8211; here&#8217;s why, by  Yuan Ren,"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText version-2 section\">\n<div class=\"article-body-text component version-2\">\n<div class=\"component-content\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/China.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12030\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/China-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"china\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/China-300x210.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/China.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>For a long time, rural life in China was grim for women. They were married early,\u00a0isolated and\u00a0denied an education.\u00a0Even today, many rural women are treated like second class citizens by their own family, subordinate to their fathers,\u00a0brothers and \u00a0&#8211; once married &#8211; their husband\u00a0and mother-in-law. Many are left with mental health issues &#8211; but little or no support or \u00a0help in dealing with them.<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=11213&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<p>The consequences are plain to see. China is the only country in the world where the\u00a0female suicide rate is higher than the male. Experts differ on the exact number &#8211; but estimates say that between 25 and 40 per cent more women kill themselves each year than men. In the UK, three quarters of all suicides are by men.<\/p>\n<p data-mediaconductor-processed=\"true\">China accounts for 26 per cent of the world&#8217;s suicides.\u00a0According to the World Bank and the World Health Organisation, the country saw\u00a0approximately 500 by women\u00a0per day in 2009. That&#8217;s 182,500 a year. If suicide has continued at that rate since those statistics were published, that means more than 1.2 million Chinese women have taken their own lives in the past seven years.<\/p>\n<div id=\"outbrain_widget_0\" class=\"OUTBRAIN\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/women\/life\/young-chinese-women-are-committing-suicide-at-a-terrifying-rate\/\" data-widget-id=\"AR_41\" data-ob-=\"\" data-ob-mark=\"true\" data-browser=\"chrome\" data-os=\"win32\" data-dynload=\"\" data-idx=\"0\">\n<div class=\"ob-widget ob-one-column-layout AR_41\" data-dynamic-truncate=\"true\">\n<div class=\"ob-widget-section ob-first\">And in rural areas,\u00a0the number is four to five times higher compared to that in urban areas \u2013 an indication of how much bleaker life is in traditional farming communities.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"htmlEmbed section\">\n<div class=\"html-embed component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\">\n<div class=\"quote section\">\n<div class=\"quote component\" data-tmg-particle=\"tmg-pull-quote\">\n<div class=\"component-content\"><q class=\"quote__content\">A popular saying is that married women are like &#8216;poured out water&#8217; &#8211; utterly powerless<\/q><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"article-body-text component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\">\n<p><span class=\"m_first-letter\">T<\/span>he death of a rural family of six in Gansu province last month, reignited debate about poverty and female suicide in China.<\/p>\n<p>Gansu province is a sparse and economically backwards region in northwest China. According to police, Yang Gailan, aged 28, killed her children, three girls and a boy, all\u00a0under the age of\u00a0seven, by poisoning them with agricultural chemicals\u00a0and attacking them using an axe. She then poisoned herself.<\/p>\n<p>Yang&#8217;s husband, who worked in the city, also committed suicide a week later.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Little is known about Yang Gailan\u2019s mental state, but the tragic\u00a0deaths were clearly an act of desperation. A case review has indicted six local government officials for neglecting their responsibility to the family; pictures published by news agencies show a mud pile stove and kitchen, and it has been reported that they didn&#8217;t even have basic medical insurance. They were neglected financially and emotionally. The availability of agricultural chemicals is also one of the reasons why 96 per cent of rural suicides in 2004 involved them. It&#8217;s clear the difference between the countryside and city in China remains vast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"article-body-text component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\">\n<p><span class=\"m_first-letter\">T<\/span>his month, the Beijing government is taking steps to reduce that gap. It has announced a five-year plan to scrap the distrinction between rural and urban residents on China\u2019s residence permits (or hukou), allowing everyone to qualify for the same social benefits.\u00a0Rapid urbanisation is also physically knocking down the divide. But its fast pace is also being blamed for displacing rural communities. In China\u2019s meteoric socioeconomic rise, many people are being left behind.<\/p>\n<p>In the recent past, family suicide cases were &#8220;not rare&#8221;, says Xie Lihua, founder of the Cultural Development Center for Rural Women.<\/p>\n<p>In countryside communities, money is tight and traditions are often strictly adhered to. Women become brides earlier and the notion of marrying &#8220;into\u201d a family is taken literally, with newlyweds often living with their in-laws. Escape is not easy; a popular saying is that married women are like \u201cpoured out water\u201d to her birth family\u00a0&#8211; utterly powerless and\u00a0never able to make it back into the nest \u2013 or bucket at that.<\/p>\n<p>Married women may have to adhere to their new family&#8217;s rules, often resulting in tension. Divorce is rare. &#8220;Going back to live at their mother&#8217;s home is very embarrassing for a woman&#8217;s family,&#8221; explains Xie Lihua.<\/p>\n<p>And if you&#8217;re unmarried by 30? Don&#8217;t even think about it.\u00a0Little wonder, perhaps, that rural young women aged 15\u201334 are at the highest risk of suicide in China.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"htmlEmbed section\">\n<div class=\"html-embed component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\">\n<div class=\"quote section\">\n<div class=\"quote component\" data-tmg-particle=\"tmg-pull-quote\">\n<div class=\"component-content\"><q class=\"quote__content\">Suicide is seen as the way to solve problems in China<\/q><span class=\"quote__author\">Xie Lihua<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articleBodyText section\">\n<div class=\"article-body-text component \">\n<div class=\"component-content\">\n<p><span class=\"m_first-letter\">S<\/span>uicide is also perceived differently in China, compared to western cultures.<\/p>\n<p>While, to us, they seem like brutal acts of murder, in rural Chinese communities killing one\u2019s children can be based on the idea of carrying worldly possessions forward into the afterlife, explains Xie. It may equally be down to the belief that it&#8217;s better to take them than leave them behind in a life of misery.<\/p>\n<p>The act is also much more impulsive. \u201cSuicide is seen as the way to solve problems in China\u201d, adds Xie, who says it is often used to make a statement or prove innocence in family conflicts. In the UK, suicides occur after longer, drawn out episodes of depression: over 72 percent of those who kill themselves have sought help from a GP or health professional in the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>There is, however, some evidence that women\u2019s suicide rates in China are falling.\u00a0In the past, married rural women were often isolated to their husband\u2019s family circle and often had little space to vent frustration. Today, around 50 per cent of labour migrant workers in China\u2019s cities are women; and even in the countryside, they are more socially active.\u00a0Over 28 per cent of internet users in China are from rural areas &#8211; and rural women are helping prop up e-commerce by making and selling goods online. Family sizes are also \u00a0smaller, due to the one-child policy,\u00a0reducing the burden of child rearing and providing more time for women to engage in other affairs, or go out to work.<\/p>\n<p>These factors are, slowly, having an impact on the suicide rate. Independent research in this area remains patchy, but many experts agree that decreasing numbers of rural women under 35 are being driven to kill themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Tragically, for women like Yang Gailan and her family these changes are too little, too late.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=11213&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a long time, rural life in China was grim for women. They were married early,\u00a0isolated and\u00a0denied an education.\u00a0Even today, many rural women are treated like second class citizens by their own family, subordinate to their fathers,\u00a0brothers and \u00a0&#8211; once married &#8211; their husband\u00a0and mother-in-law. Many are left with mental health issues &#8211; but little [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/China.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-380","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12031,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12028\/revisions\/12031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}