A Village Keeps
Receiving Hits
5 May 2007
Jiangxi has a reputation for
being most prone to hits among all Chinese
provinces.
It's nothing asuming
about. Not to the locals, definitely, 'cause
we're not talking about online hits, but
lightning hits. In a short time span of mere
one week in 2006, for instance, 23 people
were struck dead by lightning there. Of
course, it is an extreme case. But even in an
average year, this violent natural phenomenon
would claim more than ten lives
province-wide.
If it sounds bad
enought, wait until somebody mentions
Nanchang (南昌市), a city in Jiangxi.
Nanchang gets more hits than any other parts
in the province. But if you think that shall
be the worst, then wait again until somebody
mentions Mr Lightning's Platform village (雷公坛村). A few decades ago, there
were 180 people there, but in past twenty
years, fatal incidents resulted from
lightning strikes occurred so frequently that
it saw five deaths and dozens of serious
injuries among the villagers. Now the locals
nearly all have fled their home with only
eight elderlys remaining behind. When it
rains, everyone in the village would stay
indoors, shivering.
It is said that when
the local media reporters visited the
village, all they saw were farmland laid to
waste and empty houses unoccupied. "It
has been years we haven't seen anyone coming
here," the eight villagers who chose to
stay put told the visitors. Among the eight,
there is a man who lost his wife to lightning
and he himself received heavenly blows for
five times.
