New Year’s Eve: for some in Shanghai, an anniversary too much to bear
One year on from a deadly stampede on Shanghai’s Bund, many relatives of the victims are trying to avoid reliving the trauma by treating the anniversary as any other day.
One year on from a deadly stampede on Shanghai’s Bund, many relatives of the victims are trying to avoid reliving the trauma by treating the anniversary as any other day.
“No, we won’t have commemorative activities on the one-year anniversary day,” said Mei Jing, whose 19-year-old brother Mei Hechun died in the stampede.
Tens of thousands of people had been gathered in the Bund area to celebrate New Year’s Eve last year when the crush began. The crowd were expecting to see a light show, but it had been cancelled and the decision had not been widely relayed to the public.
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A stampede broke out shortly after 11.30pm on stairs linking the terrace with Chen Yi Square below. Thirty-six people, most of whom were in their 20s, were killed, among them Mei Hechun.
The loss of their only son was too much for Mei’s parents to bear.
Her father was so overwhelmed with grief that he moved out of their house in a poverty-stricken village in Henan. Remaining in the same place, with the same neighbours, would have served as a constant reminder of his son, Mei Jing said.
“We never mention my brother’s name since we don’t want my parents to sadden,” she said. “But my father was often murmuring that he felt guilty about my brother. He said he should not have been critical of my brother by scolding and beating him.”
The feeling of destruction remained with the family and would last forever, Mei said.
“My father often sighed there were few days he could live,” she said.
Shanghai authorities have admitted that the tragedy was due to their miscalculation of the size of the crowd and a shortage of police forces at the site. Some officials of Huangpu District, where the Bund is located, were removed from their posts as punishment.
Li Qi, whose cousin Li Xiang, 25, died in the stampede said his relatives dared not mention the young man’s name and had even hidden all of his pictures.
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“The accident is a huge blow to his parents, who are poor peasants in Fujian,” Li Qi said. “It’s difficult for them to have raised my cousin and to have supported him through university [and to see this happen]. He started to work several years ago and it was supposed to be a time for his parents to relax, but suddenly he died.”
He said their health deteriorated this year. Both the father, 51, sickened by long-term rheumatism, and the mother, 50, who has hip problems, are visiting hospitals more frequently than last year.
The parents of another victim, Wu Cuixia, had lost all hope and their home was now just an empty shell, said her uncle, Wu Jiaxun.
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Wu Cuixia’s father had had two surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy this year to treat a stomach condition and now weighed less than 45kg, said the uncle.
Her mother’s mental illness had resurfaced after lying dormant for many years, he added.
The Shanghai government gave 800,000 yuan (HK$955,000)to the families of each of the victims. Most families said they would not pursue the authorities for more.
For Mei Jing, life has changed in another way. Whenever she witnesses an accident she does her best to offer help.
“I often think that in the stampede, if someone had helped my brother, by taking him out or doing something else, he would not have died,” she said. “So rather than being unsympathetic, I must offer my help whenever necessary.”
She cannot help but miss her brother.
“I am four years older than him. Among the five children in my family, my brother was the closet to me.”
