Preamble:
On August 18, 2010, a photo titled "Asking for a Corpse" caused a huge controversy in the society.
The photo shows an old man in a white shirt standing at the bow of the boat, holding the rope with which the corpse was tied in one hand and gesturing with the other as if to say something to the people on the shore.
The caption below the photo reads, "Thirty-six thousand, and then pull it up when the money is in place, I only listen to the boss." ”
After the photo was sent, the protagonist Wang Shouhai immediately became the target of public criticism, and at that time, people scolded him for having his conscience eaten by dogs, and such a high price was simply eating human blood steamed buns.
But Wang Shouhai said aggrievedly that he really didn't make any money.
Is what Wang Shouhai said true? What was the real situation like at that time?
Acting bravely, holding the corpse to ask for a price
One day in 2009, three students from Jingzhou University in Hubei Province were having a picnic on the Yangtze River when they heard a cry for help not far away.
Several people immediately trotted all the way to the water's edge, and they fixed their eyes to see that it was the two children who unfortunately fell into the water, and they were the only ones on the shore at that time, so they didn't think much about it and immediately jumped into the water to prepare for rescue.
Unfortunately, they underestimated the power of the Yellow River, and it didn't take long for all three to be killed, and soon after hearing the news, people crowded the riverside, but none of them dared to go into the water to retrieve the bodies of several people.
In the end, it was a villager who contacted the corpse collector, which made things turn around.
In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Shouhai, a corpse digger, was playing cards in an alley when he suddenly received a call from Chen Xing, a fellow villager, in which Chen Xing said that something had happened in Baotawan and asked him to bring more hooks over.
Wang Shouhai knew that when Chen Xing looked for him, someone must have drowned in the Yellow River, and asked him to go and retrieve the body. He has been doing this kind of work all his life, and in the past, he and the fishermen of the same village drove a boat to fish for the corpses, and after the fish were retrieved, the family of the deceased gave some labor fees.
But six or seven years ago, Chen Bo from the same village saw that there was oil and water to be fished, so he inserted it in, and went to the industrial and commercial bureau to go through a formality. Since then, Wang Shouhai has been in the hands of the other party.
At that time, Chen Bo set a reward for Wang Shouhai as if he didn't catch the body, he would not be paid, if it was a long time, he would give a meal, and if the body was recovered, he would give 200 yuan for each corpse.
At first, Wang Shouhai thought that this time was the same as before, and he took the hook to catch people and rushed to Baota Bay with four fishermen from the same village.
After asking where the three people fell into the water, Wang Shouhai began to hook the bait, and soon the two bodies were recovered, in order to prevent the bodies from being washed away by the river, Wang Shouhai tied him to his hands with a rope.
And the photo of the "asking price for the corpse" was taken at this time.
At that time, the caption below the photo was "Thirty-six thousand, and then pull it up when the money is in place, I only listen to the boss." ”
But Wang Shouhai said that he had not said this at all, and that he was just directing the surrounding ships to give way so that they could dock.
The two sides insisted on their own words, and the group of Wang Shouhai and the corpse collectors was also pushed to the forefront. Many people say that they are cold-blooded, make money from the dead, and ask for a price for corpses, but only Wang Shouhai and others know that they are just working for others.
After experiencing this incident, Wang Shouhai was disheartened and decided to no longer engage in the business of corpse collectors.
Indeed, the profession of corpse digger has too many negative images in people's minds: dirty, smelly, unlucky...... But life always goes on, and "undecent" work always needs someone to do it.
A life that is misunderstood
Chen Song, the only member of the Chaoyang River salvage team in Jiangbei District, Chongqing, is also a corpse salvage man, like Wang Shouhai, he took over the salvage team from his father, but due to the nature of the work, the number of salvage team has become smaller and smaller over the years, and now he is the only one left.
The long-term exposure to the wind and sun by the river made Chen Song, who was born in 1974, look much older than his actual age. He was a heavy smoker, and nearby residents could often see him holding a cigarette and spitting smoke on the bow of the ship.
According to Chen Song, those who do their job tend to stick to some unclean things, and cigarettes can drive them away from their bodies.
Over the years, Chen Song has loved and hated this job, and what he loves is that this profession can help those victims to settle down, which is a good deed, and it is also a good thing to accumulate yin and virtue, and by the way, it can also support a family.
And what he hated was that he didn't want to engage in this business from the beginning, it was his father who had to pass on the salvage team to him, and this job had trapped him firmly on the water for many years, and he had not been able to learn another craft, and he had not even been able to stay by his father's throat.
But life always has to go on, even if he is unhappy, he has to continue this "undignified" job. Now Chen Song is most confused about what to do in the future.
He went to the insurance company to consult with him to get an insurance policy, but in the end the insurance company refused to insure him on the grounds that he was engaged in a high-risk industry.
What Chen Song can do now is to live one day at a time, and leave the future to later.
Unlike Chen Song's solo fight, Wan Shuguo, the corpse digger, was a lot luckier.
Pain and joy
Wan Shuguo was born in Jingzhou, he liked to swim in the river since he was a child, and when he grew up, he worshipped a navy soldier in the same village as a teacher, and at the age of 16 he dropped out of school to work in the other party's diving company.
said that it was a diving company, but it was actually a body salvage team, and Wan Shuguo was one of the water ghosts.
Over the years, Wan Shuguo has seen countless drowning people, and the most memorable of them is a salvage activity at the mouth of the Pearl River.
At that time, a cargo ship from Hebei was in distress due to unfamiliar water conditions, and more than a dozen crew members were also killed. At that time, the person in charge had only one request, and that was to hope that Wan Shuguo and they could let these people go home.
After changing into a wetsuit, Wan Shuguo led his colleagues straight to the wheelhouse, because according to experience, the number of victims here is generally the largest.
Sure enough, as soon as he came to the door of the cab, he saw two victims staring at him through the glass, and Wan Shuguo felt the despair of the other party through the glass.
Then he boldly opened the hatch, but something unexpected happened, due to the water pressure, two corpses rushed straight at him, and the two of them maintained a desperate look before death was very terrifying.
At that time, Wan Shuguo slowed down for a long time to calm down from this tense atmosphere, and then he tied the two to himself and began to bring them back to shore.
At this time, it was summer in the outside world, and soon after coming ashore, the two corpses began to decay rapidly, and Wan Shuguo watched them rot and turn ugly in front of him, and their hair began to fall out continuously, and finally only the white scalp remained.
This scene left a huge psychological shadow on Wan Shuguo, after which he couldn't eat for a few days, and when he closed his eyes, he would see the two bodies, and finally he had to go to a psychiatrist.
After hearing about his condition, the doctor comforted him that he was doing a good deed, and if the other party really had a spirit in the sky, he would definitely thank him, which made Wan Shuguo find the meaning of his work, and slowly he came out of the shadows.
Soon after, in 2015, a massive shipwreck occurred in the Yangtze River, killing more than 400 people. After the accident, Wan Shuguo called a few teammates to spontaneously go to the scene of the accident for rescue.
As soon as he arrived at the scene, his heart was half cold, it turned out that the huge ship was completely overturned at the bottom of the ship, and it was conceivable that the passengers in it must be more than lucky.
Originally, Wan Shuguo thought that the shipwreck at the Pearl River Estuary last time was terrifying enough, but who would have thought that this accident made him feel as if he had strayed into the set of a horror movie.
After entering the inside of the giant ship, there were corpses everywhere in sight, and they were floating in the water, staring at the rescuers one by one with miserable white eyes.
At that time, some timid people were immediately frightened out, and Wan Shuguo almost turned around and ran away, but he remembered the flowers that the doctor told him not long ago, and they came to take these corpses "home".
A rather bizarre incident occurred during this time, when the body of a victim clung to the guardrail, and several divers tried their best to get him to let go.
Seeing this, Wan Shuguo took a deep breath, and then slowly swam to the ear of the deceased and whispered, Don't be afraid, we will take you home.
A miracle happened, the victim's hand was released, and then Wan Shuguo carried him on his back and sent him ashore.
Every time he recalls this scene, Wan Shuguo can't help but hate himself for not being able to save the other party's life, and all he can do is take the other party home.
And there are many similar supernatural events, such as one time, there was a newcomer who fished up the body and put it directly on the shore, but that night he began to vomit and fever, and the old man in the team said that the deceased was unhappy.
So he hurriedly led someone to put the body back into the water, and it didn't take long for the newcomer's condition to miraculously improve. The old people said that it was he who ran into the deceased.
They have encountered many similar things in Wanshuguo, and many taboos have arisen from this, such as not lifting the corpse above the head of the corpse digger; The corpse must not be allowed to see the face of the person who collects the corpse; It is not possible to put a body on a ship, etc.
For Wan Shuguo, although the salary is very high, it is a complete chore, and the incomprehension of their families and the discrimination of society weigh on them like a mountain.
Wan Shuguo gave up for a while after getting married, but soon the heavy financial pressure forced him to return to the place again.
Compared with Wang Shouhai and Chen Song, he is lucky, after all, the company behind him is quite formal, and everything will be discussed before each salvage, and there will be no situation such as asking for a corpse.
Corpse salvages are an ancient and special profession that has the sacred mission of escorting the deceased on their last journey. However, in recent years, there is no fixed norm within the industry, which has led to a lot of prejudice against them.
We hope that one day these corpse diggers will be able to come out of the haze and gain relative dignity while helping the dead to be buried in peace.
Resources:
Revealing the secret of the professional corpse collector: self-proclaimed craftsman, conscience is more important than money (photo)-Chinanews.com