Shanghai jaywalker sent to jail

One Ms. Liu, a woman from Shenyang that holds a master's degree, has earned the dubious distinction of being the first jaywalker in Shanghai history to ever be arrested. According to this report, Liu was jaywalking with a friend around Huaihai Lu and Huangpi Lu, when they were stopped by a police officer. Liu refused to pay the fine and the situation became heated, in the ensuing moments Liu began pushing and shoving officer Lin and even scratched him with her nails. Finally, three female cops came over and stuffed her in a police van. When Ms. Liu had to face the press, she said this by way of apology:

“真的很对不起大家，特别是给很多年轻人造成了不好的影响。”她说，看到那个出现在电视画面里的自己，连自己都有些不认识。她说，可能是因为平时生活压力太大，长期积累着一些情绪，觉得受到一点委屈就容易暴发，失去理智，“是自己法律意识的淡薄才造成这么严重的后果”。("I really am sorry, especially for the young people on whom this might have bad influence". She said that when she almost didn't recognize herself when she saw herself on television. She said that there was too much pressure on her in everyday life, and over a long period of time the stress and emotions began to built up inside to the point that a small slight caused her to lose her cool. "I must blame my poor knowledge and sense of the law for the serious consequences that have arisen from my actions.")

However, the real reason why she threw a fit was because she felt it too much a loss of face to be caught and fined (in public) for jaywalking. Apparently, she wasn't so badass when they dragged her into the van; knowing she was in deep shit she began begging the police for their understanding and forgiveness.

The Shanghai government recently vowed to continue its efforts to crack down on these forms of "uncivilized" behavior through fines, reports (to one's employer or work unit) and also by putting your name on the internet so that everyone you know will scoff and spit at you.

Strangely enough, another person was also arrested and sentenced to 10 days behind bars for a traffic violation -- if you call walking along the No. 3 metro line near Zhongshan Park a "traffic violation." Turns out he was in a bad mood, too. We think the solution lies beyond policing behavior -- what these people need, above all, is some serious therapy. Consider, if you will, the last paragraph of that article:

According to the Metro operation company, at least one person is found walking along subway tracks without permission every two days, which seriously influences the safety of Metro trains and passengers.

You'd think that with 230 riots happening per day in China, people would have found other ways of releasing their emotions and venting their anger.

Photo from www.xmwb.com.cn.