New Year’s Eve: for some in Shanghai, an anniversary too much to bear

One year on from a deadly stampede on Shanghai’s Bund, many relatives of the victims are trying to avoid reliving the trauma by treating the anniversary as any other day.

“No, we won’t have commemorative activities on the one-year anniversary day,” said Mei Jing, whose 19-year-old brother Mei Hechun died in the stampede.

Tens of thousands of people had been gathered in the Bund area to celebrate New Year’s Eve last year when the crush began. The crowd were expecting to see a light show, but it had been cancelled and the decision had not been widely relayed to the public.

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A stampede broke out shortly after 11.30pm on stairs linking the terrace with Chen Yi Square below. Thirty-six people, most of whom were in their 20s, were killed, among them Mei Hechun.

The loss of their only son was too much for Mei’s parents to bear.

Her father was so overwhelmed with grief that he moved out of their house in a poverty-stricken village in Henan. Remaining in the same place, with the same neighbours, would have served as a constant reminder of his son, Mei Jing said.

“We never mention my brother’s name since we don’t want my parents to sadden,” she said. “But my father was often murmuring that he felt guilty about my brother. He said he should not have been critical of my brother by scolding and beating him.”

The feeling of destruction remained with the family and would last forever, Mei said.