The hair is a woman’s crowning glory. In the case of a Shaanxi wife, it turned out to be her saving grace.
Shanghaiist reported that the suicidal woman tried to commit suicide by leaping off a building, but her husband managed to hold on to her ponytail until the police came to rescue the woman. The specter of the woman dangling by her hair from a building top became fodder for Chinese social media after someone filmed the incident and posted the video online.
Woman Did Not Want Help
In a few minutes, the police finally arrived and helped haul the suicidal woman by pulling on her clothes. However, she could be heard shouting to the rescuers “Let me go!” The husband also had some help from a pipe which supported the woman’s weight while he held on his wife’s hair.
A police is seen going down the ledge of the building to help push the woman up, while another police was holding on to the husband’s collar for added weight support as he helped hoist his wife up the rooftop. After she was rescued, the husband is seen embracing the woman in a pink jacket, but she is seen still struggling which led the rescue team to haul her bodily inside the building.
High Female Suicide Rate
The Telegraph reports that China is the only country where female suicide rate in higher than male suicide rate. The difference is between 25 and 40 percent. The World Health Organization and World Bank estimates 26 percent of suicides across the world are by Chinese.
In 2009, the rate of female suicide in China was 500 daily or about 182,500 annually. Suicide rate in rural communities, where life is bleaker as people still live in traditional farming communities, is four to five times higher compared to city dwellers.
Among the reasons believed to be the reason behind the high female suicide rate in China are rural women are considered like second-class citizens by their family and husband’s family that many end up struggling with mental health issues with no or little support or assistance in dealing with the issues.