Having just completed an hour-long radio program on suicide, and having just visited mainland China for the first time, I was drawn to this incredibly moving story from Shenzhen, by Shi Yingying in China Daily:

Like a real life version of Snow White, Liu Wenxiu‘s kiss literally saved the life of a 16-year-old boy.

Liu just passing by a pedestrian bridge in downtown Shenzhen on June 11 when she spotted hundreds of onlookers watching a young man with a knife in his hand, threatening to jump.

“I saw him get more and more excited – everybody around was just looking, nobody was trying to step up and help,” said Liu, a 19-year-old hotel waitress.

“He had to be saved – because I’ve been there before and I knew exactly how it was,” continued Liu, who had attempted suicide several times. …

“He told me he didn’t have a home anymore, nobody cared about him and no one trusted him. I said nothing but showed him the scars on my right wrist. … With the boy crying even harder, Liu knew he had a sense of being understood.

“He said he’s hopeless, ‘so don’t waste your time to save me’. But I told him, ‘I’m not saving your life, I just want you to realize how silly you are being. Look at me, I’ve been there and I’m now here,'” she said.

The negotiation on the bridge ended like a romantic comedy when Liu hugged the boy and kissed him unexpectedly. Police took advantage of the situation to take away the boy’s knife and pull him inside the handrail of the bridge.

“When I kissed him and when he put his hand (with the knife) on my waist, both of us were crying so hard,” she said. “But I was happy as I knew I had saved him.”