A distressing video posted to LiveLeak this week appears to show the final moments of a troubled teen in China who apparently jumped to his death from a classroom window.
The footage was captured on the classroom's CCTV camera and show's the schoolboy sitting motionless as the class around him buzzes with activity before an impending lesson. The video's description gives the student's name as Xiao Zhen — and whatever was going through his mind must have been too much to bear.
Half-way into the one-minute clip, and without warning, Xiao stands and heads straight for the nearest window.
Though the video doesn't show him, one can infer what happens next from the reactions of horror from his classmates who race to see if he really just did the unthinkable. Several students are seen running for the door.
China's pressure-cooker society, in which parents and teachers make huge demands of children, and in which poor exam results can stunt a young person's entire future, has helped elevate suicide to the number one cause of death among the country's youth. Rest in peace, kid.
