Time travel television dramas were recently blamed for inducing the tragic deaths of two 12-year-old girls in Zhangpu, Fujian Province. Chinese dramas such as Startling by Each Step <步步惊心> depicted the heroine, Cecilia Liu (刘诗诗), traveling back to the Qing Dynasty on an incredible journey of love and discovery. As reported by ifeng.com, the deaths of two primary school girls, who decided to end their lives and travel to another era in time, have shocked and angered many people in mainland China. The corpses of the two fifth-graders, Xiaohua and Xiaomei, were found in a 2-meter deep pond, located in Tingzhen Harbour Village in Zhangpu county. On the fateful morning of March 1st, Xiaohua discovered that she had lost her house keys. Scared, Xiaohua told her friend, Xiaomei, what had happened. The girls whispered together, apparently deciding that they would end their lives together, in an attempt to avoid the wrath of Xiaohua’s family. Xiaohua and Xiaomei left suicide notes for their families before jumping into a pond together. In Xiaomei’s letter, she wrote, “Father, Mother, I can no longer pay my respects to you anymore. I have to leave. Younger brother, you have to respect our parents. My good friend (Xiaohua) lost her house keys. She is afraid of going home and being scolded. She wanted to die and I have decided to accompany her in death. Please do not worry. Although we could not be born in the same month and year, we hope to die on the day. In this life, I have two secrets: one is time travel to the Qing Dynasty to film a movie about an emperor and the second mission is to travel to space.” In Xiaohua’s suicide note to her parents, she wrote, “Father, Mother, and Elder Sister: I’m sorry, I’m leaving. You have to take care of your health. Usually, I will fight with Elder Sister, but I love her dearly. It will be sufficient for Sister to have you. I often provoke Mother and make her unhappy. I’m really sorry. Sister, please take care of Mother and Father.” According to the police, the Zhangpu County Board of Education Secretary arrived at Tingzhen to help retrieve the corpses from the pond and console the emotionally wrought families.The deaths of Xiaohua and Xiaomei caused a public outrage, in which many people criticized that there was an absence of love and education at home and in school. Some locals postulated that the girls possessed psychological problems and were unable to resolve a small problem such as losing house keys. Other locals cried that the young girls had watched too many time travel series, resulting in the girl’s warped sense of reality and prompting them to end their lives in hopes of traveling back to the Qing Dynasty.
