Obsolete

Suicide is the main cause of death among young adults in China, the state media said yesterday in a report that highlights the growing pressures to succeed in love, work and education in one of the world's fastest changing societies.

Increasing stress, loneliness and a lack of medical support for depression are thought to have contributed to an annual suicide toll that is estimated at 250,000 people a year.

According to the China Daily, an additional 2.5 million to 3.5 million make unsuccessful attempts to kill themselves each year.

The article doesn't make any mention of the human rights issues and ultra-capitalist ethos which defines China, and what effect they may have on the mindset of the young. I often view China as a mirror of the United States, with one major difference. While America has the illusion of freedom, China doesn't even have that. Communist only in name, China is a country which has fast become one of the biggest threats to the world as we know it. Get rich quick, but don't ask for any favours like democracy in return. The sad fact is though, that the young don't even seem interested in overthrowing the tyranny from which they are under. Since the massacre at Tiananmen Square, the only thing occupying most seems to be to become the most consumerist society in the world. Never mind that most of the people in the country are living in crushing poverty, that the regime still runs forced labour "re-education" camps, and executes the most people in the world, what really matters is yourself.

While we continue to disassociate the rise of consumer culture and kleptocratic capitalism with the rise of mental illness and depression, and fail to see the signs that more money and choice does not bring happiness, we'll not begin to even understand why more and more are becoming ill and killing themselves. The more we lie and delude ourselves, the more we will die.