Chinese Government Covered a Bridge in Butter to Fight Suicides

Posted by Alex in Food & Drinks on September 15, 2009 at 1:03 pm


Butter … is there anything it can’t do? Add this to the long list of the awesome things butter can do: in China, they use it to prevent suicides!

Government officials in south-east China have ordered workers to cover a 1,000 ft long steel bridge in butter to prevent citizens from using it to attempt suicide.

All the climbable surfaces on the structure in Guangzhou have been covered in greasy fat to put an end to the spate of people threatening to jump from it, The Sun reports.

Government spokesman Shiu Liang said: "We tried employing guards at both ends but that didn’t work – and we put up special fences and notices asking people not to commit suicide here.

"None of it worked – and so now we have put butter over the bridge and it has worked very well. Nobody can get up there and nobody who tries ever falls."

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17 comments to "Chinese Government Covered a Bridge in Butter to Fight Suicides"

  1. TMA
    September 15th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    First!

    It's very, very worrying that the Chinese government is ordering the lubing up a bridge to stop suicides - how bad is it out there?

  2. Gail Pink
    September 15th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    I didn't realize suicide was such a fad in China.

  3. Gauldar
    September 15th, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    It may deter people from committing suicides on the bridge, but it may increase deaths due to workers slipping and falling off the buttered bridge. This was defiantly a top tier government decision.

  4. MadMolecule
    September 15th, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    Interesting that they first tried putting up signs politely requesting that people not commit suicide on the bridge.

  5. pollardito
    September 15th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    the same number of people will die. it just won't be called a suicide, it'll be called an accidental death

  6. Craig
    September 15th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    You know what else they do in China? Make up fake stories and report it as "news".

  7. dooflotchie
    September 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    Well, it's great the butter worked (for now), but that's not gonna be a long-term solution for the problem.

    Why didn't they use anti-climb paint? It's made for the express purpose of preventing people climbing anything you put it on and it stays slippery and unset for years. Unlike butter, it won't wash off in the rain, won't go rancid and won't draw flies.

  8. teafordinner
    September 15th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    because the butter will make them happy and no longer want to commit suicide. i see the logic. well done, inventors of chess

  9. FishBottleT
    September 15th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    Mabey they just made suicide yummy for those who actually succeed.

  10. Morgan
    September 15th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Putting butter on the Bloor via duct would probably look better than that creepy fence they put up. Of course, people would be lined up to have a lick. Which makes me wonder, did they use salted or unsalted?

  11. ted
    September 15th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    They should use peanut butter. That way, potential jumpers would stick to the bridge, and they could have a weekly roundup to send them off to therapy.

  12. Gauldar
    September 15th, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    @ted

    That would really suck if the jumper slipped, fell, and promptly suffocated from a peanut allergy.

    @Morgan

    They would use salted. It keeps away the evil spirits of jumpers.

  13. Christophe
    September 15th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    Butter???? Why not regular grease?

    or maybe they'd already put elbow grease. ah, ah.

  14. clinton robert labombard
    September 16th, 2009 at 12:22 am

    Or they could just create 'suicide booths' and get rid of the one child policy. Plenty of screwing, plenty of replacements, evolution marches onward, and plenty of fertilizer.

  15. free games for kids
    September 16th, 2009 at 1:11 am

    And makes bridges taste better!

  16. seefish3
    September 16th, 2009 at 3:54 am

    I'm with you, Craig, but what makes you think the CHINESE made this crap up?

  17. jayam
    September 17th, 2009 at 5:55 am

    They should definitively covered the bridge in bacon. Who could kill themselves, when having bacon in sight?


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