Not long ago, a humorous tale circulated among the people: In Chongqing, Wen Qiang captured the murderous demon Zhang Jun, Wen was the good guy, Zhang was the bad guy. Later, Wang Lijun captured Wen Qiang, Wang was the good guy, Wen was the bad guy. Then Bo Xilai drove away Wang Lijun, Bo was the good guy, Wang was the bad guy. Later, Sun Zhengcai replaced Bo Xilai, Sun was the good guy, Bo was the bad guy. Eventually, Sun Zhengcai was arrested, and Sun also became the bad guy.
Chongqing, a mountainous city located upstream of the Yangtze River, is easy to defend but difficult to attack. After Chiang Kai-shek abandoned Nanjing, he established it as the provisional capital. The Japanese invaders, looking at the mountains, sighed deeply and never managed to invade. Thus, peace was maintained in this area.
However, Chongqing has not been peaceful in recent years. Bo Xilai, by directing the singing of red songs and seeking public favor through sensational actions, ultimately engaged in misconduct that led him to prison.
Wang Lijun, having risen to a ministerial level, fled to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu seeking political asylum, which caused widespread ridicule.
Bo’s successor, the prominent vice-national level official Sun Zhengcai, also turned out to be a corrupt official and has been imprisoned for over a year.
Unexpectedly, last month, a passenger bus on the Second Yangtze River Bridge in Chongqing crashed through the guardrail and plunged into the turbulent waters of the Yangtze River due to a dispute and fight between the driver and a passenger, resulting in no survivors among the 15 on board.
This tragic bus plunge has embarrassed the nation and shamed the great Chinese nation. The initiating female passenger struck the driver on the head while the bus was moving rapidly; the driver, instead of slowing down and stopping, retaliated by fighting back and deliberately turning the steering wheel sharply. It is said online that he intended to crash the bus, causing a major traffic accident and holding the instigator criminally responsible. During the critical moments when their lives were in grave danger, none of the 13 passengers intervened to stop the fight for several minutes, ultimately leading to the bus breaking through the bridge and into the river, burying 15 lives in the swift currents of the river.
This is a painful tragedy of collective cultural decline. The woman, motivated by selfish interests, acted recklessly and violently without regard for the consequences. Her cultural decline reached the extent that, to protect her own interests, she acted rashly, violently, and aggressively, committing acts of violence and bravado that defy common decency.
The driver, unprovokedly attacked, filled with rage, forgot professional ethics, and ignored the dangers as the assaults continued, which emboldened him to recklessly turn the steering wheel, causing the bus to lose control and plunge into the vast Yangtze River. His culture also fell, descending into disregard for rules and laws, ignoring the safety of the numerous passengers on board, risking danger, ultimately leading to disaster.
On the bus, there were 13 passengers, excluding infants and children, at least ten adults, who, during the 5 to 8 minutes of struggle, remained indifferent, as if petrified, oblivious to the approaching danger, unaware of the impending peril. The culture of these passengers also fell, falling into a state of indifference, ignoring the law, pretending not to know, effectively being willfully blind.
The fall of collective culture heralds great disaster, a situation that is deeply saddening, thought-provoking, and frightening.
The fall of culture brings endless evil consequences, forgetting lessons leads to repeated disasters, amnesia tragedy, cultural collapse. If the relevant authorities in Chongqing could display the salvaged wreckage of Bus 22, as a symbol of this historical tragedy, on the side of the bridge, permanently to the world, it might rescue the falling culture, and be beneficial in preventing future disasters.
