作者/编辑：钟然
责任编辑：罗志飞    校对：冯仍    翻译：吕峰

2025年9月，浙江绍兴发生了一起震惊全国的事故——9月13日深夜，地铁末班车收车之后，四名清洁工人在作业中穿越二号线路铁轨时，被一架驶回车厂检查的列车撞到，造成三人身亡一人受伤。事件直到11天后的24号才被报道，官方公告草草了事，全网随即陷入噤声，在官家眼里三条生命的消失不值一提。

稍微了解社会新闻的人都知道，这不是偶然事件，此类悲剧已经发生多次。

2018年8月7日，深圳龙华区大浪街道悠山美地家园小区的河道箱涵中，两名清淤工人刚结束作业，准备离开时暴雨突至，洪水迅猛灌入涵洞。导致一人被冲走失踪，第二天才在下游观澜河找到遗体。

2019年4月10日，深圳再次遭遇暴雨。罗湖区与福田区约25名工人在清理水沟时突遇洪水，十多人被冲走，最终确认10人死亡、1人失踪。

两次事故，暴雨早已在气象预警之中，可就在倾盆而下的前夕，领导仍让工人冒险工作。

2023年7月，南京66岁的绿化工人蒋梅花在涵洞避雨时被暴涨的积水冲走。三天后，她的遗体才在下游被找到——她在工作岗位上丧命，却无人被追责，反而被美化成“英勇绿化工人”。在极权的逻辑中，用生命为其献祭，即为典范！

同年5月，贵州毕节6名教师被领导要求下河捡鹅卵石，装饰校园迎检查。上游水电站突然泄洪，河水暴涨，两人不幸溺亡。事后，校方矢口否认这项行为是学校要求，却无法解释，为何在上班时间，教师会下河捡石头。

中国的“马路天使”清洁工，一不小心就可能真的成为“天使”。2013年云南、2013年长春、2014年呼和浩特、2014年深圳、2014年郑州、2015年北京、2017年哈尔滨——不同城市，相同惨剧：清晨或深夜清扫道路的清洁工，被疾驶的车辆撞死。这样的悲剧屡次上演。城市每天都在苏醒，而他们，也许明天就看不见升起的太阳。

一连串的死亡，反映出中国底层劳动者的真实处境：危险是常态，保护是空谈。安全监管成了摆设，预警信息止步于办公室，责任层层外包，工人签着临时合同、拿着微薄工资，却要承担生命的全部风险。出了事故，媒体报道三天，舆论关注一周，随后一切归于沉寂——赔偿草草，责任人“停职检查”，体制“吸取教训”，然后一切照旧。

而政府的冷血，更令人作呕。他们热衷于制造“发展奇迹”，举办阅兵、政绩展示、光鲜宣传，却从不在意基层的血肉。他们根本不把人民当人看，普通人的生命只是生产成本。绍兴无人驾驶地铁的悲剧背后，是极权制度和盲目机械化形成的“绞肉机”；贵州教师溺亡事件的根源，在于权力的滥用，以及对上级检查的盲目迎合。

官僚体系阿谀奉承、热衷面子工程，却对老百姓冷酷无情，尤其是底层民众——在体制眼中，他们的生命毫无价值，丢几条烂命无伤大雅。在“九三阅兵”上，政府可以精准调动万人队列，却无法保证最原始的生命安全——这不是能力问题，而是价值取向的问题：保护普通人的生命，根本不在他们的计划里。

这些逝去的工人、教师、环卫者，他们没有留下惊天动地的遗言，也不会被写进官方年鉴。他们只是用生命提醒世人：这个不保护弱者、对死亡习以为常的社会，才是我们“繁荣盛世”下的真相。

一个城市是否发达，不在于高楼与地铁，而在于那些清扫街道、疏通暗渠、修剪绿化的普通人，能否平安回家。

我们不要成为极权统治下的个体牺牲品，我们要的是一个把生命放在第一位、以人性为根基的国家。

The Vanished Workers

Author/Editor: Zhong Ran
Editor-in-Chief: Luo Zhifei   Proofreader: Feng Reng   Translator: Lyu Feng

In September 2025, a shocking accident occurred in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. On the night of September 13, after the last metro train had been withdrawn, four cleaning workers were struck by a train returning to the depot for inspection while crossing the tracks of Line 2. Three were killed and one injured. The incident was not reported until eleven days later, on the 24th, and the official announcement was perfunctory. The internet quickly fell silent. In the eyes of the authorities, three lost lives were not even worth mentioning.

Anyone who follows social news knows this was not an isolated event. Similar tragedies have occurred repeatedly.

On August 7, 2018, in the Youshan Meidi Community of Longhua District, Shenzhen, two workers were cleaning a drainage culvert when a sudden rainstorm hit. Torrential floodwater poured into the conduit, sweeping one worker away. His body was found the next day in the Guanlan River downstream.

On April 10, 2019, Shenzhen was hit by heavy rains again. About 25 workers in Luohu and Futian Districts were cleaning drainage ditches when a sudden flood struck. More than ten were swept away; 10 were confirmed dead and one missing.In both cases, heavy rain warnings had already been issued by meteorological authorities. Yet, on the eve of the downpour, their supervisors still ordered the workers to proceed.

In July 2023, Jiang Meihua, a 66-year-old greening worker in Nanjing, was swept away by surging floodwater while taking shelter from the rain in a culvert. Her body was found three days later downstream. She died on duty, yet no one was held accountable—instead, state media portrayed her as a “heroic sanitation worker.” Under totalitarian logic, to die serving the regime is to be glorified.

That same year in May, in Bijie, Guizhou, six teachers were ordered by their superiors to wade into a river to collect pebbles to decorate the school grounds for an upcoming inspection. When the upstream hydropower station suddenly released water, the river rose rapidly, and two drowned. Later, the school denied issuing such orders but failed to explain why teachers were in the river during work hours.

China’s so-called “angels of the streets”—sanitation workers—may truly become angels by accident.In 2013 in Yunnan, 2013 in Changchun, 2014 in Hohhot, 2014 in Shenzhen, 2014 in Zhengzhou, 2015 in Beijing, and 2017 in Harbin, the same tragedy recurred: street cleaners, working early mornings or late nights, were struck and killed by speeding vehicles.Cities awaken every morning, but these workers may never see the next sunrise.

A chain of deaths reveals the real condition of China’s working class: danger is routine, protection is a lie.Safety supervision is a façade; early warnings stop at office doors; responsibility is subcontracted layer by layer.Workers sign temporary contracts, earn meager wages, and bear all the risks of death.When accidents occur, the media report them for three days, the public pays attention for a week, and then silence returns—compensation is perfunctory, officials are “suspended for investigation,” and the system “learns a lesson.” Then everything continues as before.

What’s worse is the cold-bloodedness of the government. Obsessed with “miracles of development,” military parades, and glossy propaganda, it shows no concern for the flesh and blood of its people.Ordinary lives are mere production costs.Behind the Shaoxing driverless metro tragedy lies a totalitarian system’s mechanized meat grinder; behind the Guizhou teachers’ drowning, the abuse of power and blind subservience to bureaucratic inspections.

The bureaucracy flatters upward and pursues vanity projects, yet is cruelly indifferent to the people—especially those at the bottom. In the eyes of the regime, their lives are worthless; a few dead mean nothing.At the “September 3rd Parade,” the government can marshal tens of thousands with precision, yet cannot ensure the most basic safety of life. This is not a question of capability but of values: protecting ordinary people’s lives is never part of their plan.

These workers, teachers, and cleaners left behind no heroic last words and will never be recorded in official chronicles.Yet their deaths remind us: a society that fails to protect the weak and treats death as routine reveals the truth behind its so-called prosperity.

The true measure of a city’s development is not its skyscrapers or subways,but whether those who sweep the streets, dredge the drains, and trim the greenery can return home safely.

We must not become sacrificial individuals under totalitarian rule.What we need is a country that puts life first and builds its foundation on human dignity.