Before leaving his village in Hunan Province 10 years ago, a man surnamed Zhang, then only 21, promised his parents he would not return until he became rich and famous. He cut all ties with his family and started to work in a factory in Bao'an District.

But 10 years later, he was still an ordinary migrant worker in the city without money or property. It was then that he decided to kill himself.

Fortunately, however, before actually committing suicide, he decided to call Shenzhen's psychological crisis hotline two months ago.

After talking with Li Jiying, a counselor with the Shenzhen Psychological Crisis Intervention Center, an institution under Kangning Hospital, Zhang decided not to go through with his suicide plan.

Li and the 24 other counselors at the center have no idea about how many people they have saved, but Li said all those who called the hotline for help ultimately gave up trying to commit suicide.

Around 20 percent of people calling the hotline have expressed the desire to commit suicide, according to a report released by Kangning Hospital yesterday, World Suicide Prevention Day.

Depression and frustration about life and work are the leading causes behind suicide attempts in this migrant city, the report said.

"Shenzheners suffered from great pressures and uncertainty from their work and daily life," said Shao Chunxiao, a spokesperson for the hospital.

The hotline has received 40,000 phone calls since 2004, when it was first made known to the public. Most of the callers expressed frustration about their partners, marriages and relationships with others.

The average age of the hotline's callers is 27, of whom 75 percent are single women with temporary residence permits, according to Shao.

The hospital also conducted a survey of Shenzhen residents and found that 21.2 percent of those surveyed had psychiatric problems, a rate significantly higher than in other mainland cities, not only due to the faster pace of life, but also because a large chunk of the city's population consists of young migrants from across the country. "Suicide attempts can be prevented, but could not be solved simply by hotlines," said Shao, adding that a suicide prevention network should be established to help residents.

According to the hospital's estimate, an average of 2,000 people commit suicide in the city annually, double the number of deaths from traffic accidents.

World Suicide Prevention Day is an annual day sponsored by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Each year, approximately 1 million people die by committing suicide worldwide. Suicide is a major public health problem in many countries and accounts for nearly 3 percent of all world deaths. In China, suicide accounts for 250,000 deaths a year.

(Shenzhen Daily September 11, 2007)