 2009-01-03 Let's Go Skiing
Although the word of winter seems to covey anything but warmth, I believe the idea of going skiing is sure to kindle the passion within many people. Today we will talk about skiing. | |
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 Hello, and welcome to another edition of  Frontline, the features segment brought to you by China Radio International. I'm your host, Wu Jia.
At noon on December 28, 2007, He Caixin was cooking lunch for her son as usual, at their home in Miyun County, Beijing. After they finished lunch, He Caixin prepared to pour the dirty outside their doorway. Holding the basin with both hands, she walked down the alley with her son tagging along behind. Just a few steps outside their door, something attacked them head-on. Our reporter Yang Lei has more.
He Caixin still has a lingering fear when she recalls the scene.
"I just saw something whiz toward us. It moved as fast as a gust of wind and passed me by. I moved quickly backward and it crashed onto our house. My son was right behind me. As I bumped against him, we both fell to the ground. I felt extremely weak, as if I were paralyzed."
He Caixin and her son narrowly escaped being hit. Badly shaken, He Caixin clambered to her feet. After the smoke and dust had settled, she gazed, transfixed at the scene in front of her. A bus had crashed into her house. The Miyun No.6 bus makes its final stop in Qianliyuan Village, where He Caixin lives. The terminal is located at a T-shaped road in the village. The bus normally stops thirty to forty meters from He Caixin house. How had the bus come to crash into her house?
The crash occurred midday, so several villagers witnessed the incident.
"At that time, the bus stopped at this position. The bus was being driven backwards when it crashed into the corner of He Caixin's house. The bus wasn't traveling slowly. It made a turn, then ran directly into the house."
He Caixin turned to help her son up. She patted away the dust on her clothes and marched to the front of the bus, prepared to argue with the driver. At that moment, a middle-aged man ran over in a great hurry, saying over and over again "I'm the driver, I'm sorry."
The driver said he had driven the bus to the Qianliyuan stop only a few minutes earlier. He had drunk a lot of water that morning and had been dying to get to a toilet.
"After all the passengers got off at the terminal, I cut the engine, closed the door, and hurried to find a restroom. I left the key in the ignition. Normally, we don't have to pull out the key when parking the bus at a terminal."
The driver jumped out of the bus and ran to the bathroom. Coincidentally, the conductress noticed that she didn't have enough tickets and got off to borrow some tickets from a conductress on another bus. She didn't close the door when she left.
"While I was borrowing tickets from the conductress on the bus next to ours, I turned around and saw that the brake indicator of our bus was on."
The bus was empty when she got off, so the conductress couldn't figure out how the brake indicator had turned on. More alarmingly, she noticed that the bus was moving.
"I cried out to our driver, 'How come the bus is moving?' He had finished washing his hands and hurried back to chase the bus."
The driver and conductress shouted and ran after the bus. The bus didn't stop. It began picking up speed and crashed straight into He Caixin's house.
The bus came to a stop after it hit the wall. The bystanders all crowded around to see what was wrong. The driver was not on the bus, so how had it started? Everyone glanced inside the bus. As expected, a stranger was sitting in the driver's seat, his head bent over the steering wheel, not uttering a sound.
"A man with a Band-Aid on his head sat in the bus. He was bending over the steering wheel. I thought he was a drunk driver. Later, he kept saying 'Nothing serious.' I complained to him 'How do you drive your bus?' All he said was, 'Nothing serious'."
He Caixin didn't know the man. The bus driver and the conductress didn't know him, either. But some villagers recognized him as a fellow villager named Ma Guodong. As the village has a large population, He Caixin hadn't met him before.
Ma Guodong was behind the crash, and the villagers who recognized him gave wry smiles, saying 'This is a real headache'. Ma Guodong is a mental patient.
The driver had left the key in the ignition, and Ma Guodong, who is mentally ill, chanced to get on the bus. He started the engine and put the bus into reverse by mistake.
Once the basic facts of the matter were sorted out, He Caixin hurried to check the damage to her house. From outside, the house didn't appear to be severely damaged. He Caixin went inside to finish her examination. She found a crack on the wall inside the house. She stormed back outside and grabbed hold of the driver.
"It is not easy for a farmer to put up a house. You see that my house was smashed by your bus. There is a crack in the middle of the wall. My son and I were almost killed. You should pay me fifty thousand yuan in compensation."
He Caixin demanded a compensation of 50,000 yuan, or seven thousand US dollars. The driver was at loss as to what to do. He called the bus company and reported the incident. Lou Baoshan, chairman of the board of directors, sent representatives rushing to the scene.
"We had to concede that we did something wrong. After all, our bus hit the wall of her house. We apologized and agreed to make up for her loss. But we pointed out to her that the matter should not be blamed entirely on us. The crash was caused by a villager, and he should shoulder the main responsibility."
He Caixin agreed with this argument, and along with the representatives of the bus company, went to discuss the matter with Ma Guodong's family.
Ma's father Ma Lai heard his son had gotten into trouble. Seeing so many people at his door, he poured out his grievances.
"There would be more trouble if he stayed at home. He runs outside all day long. He keeps asking for money to go here and there by taxi. He is mentally deranged."
Ma Lai said his son had contracted a mental illness three years ago and had caused trouble for the family numerous times. In the past, the father had managed to compensate the victims by borrowing money. But this time, he couldn't afford such a large sum.
"I can't afford it. I am totally dependent on the minimum living standard guarantee provided by the government. When my wife was alive, she was often taken ill. We had to rely on government relief."
This is indeed a tricky situation. The man who caused the trouble, Ma Guodong, is mentally ill, and his guardian doesn't have the ability to compensate the victim. How will the problem be resolved? Please stay tuned. We'll be right back after this.
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