Doomsday phobia has reached China. China is starting to freak out a bit over the possible end of the world on December 21, 2012 and their fears where sparked by a Hollywood movie.
A 3D version of the Roland Emmerich-directed disaster film, 2012, was screened just weeks before the impending doomsday. Although the original movie debuted in 2009, the recent screening reminded Chinese doomsday believers that 12/21/12 is just around the corner, Asia Times reports.
Several discussions are taking place on the internet as doomsday theorists discuss what they believe will be the end of the world. Since the screening of the film, some in China are starting to act a bit strange as they prepare for doomsday, and they include intelligent and successful citizens.
According to Asia Times, A woman in Nanjing, the wealthy capital of the Jiangsu province, mortgaged her apartment worth three million yuan ($482,000) and took out a loan for 1.04 million yuan. She also withdrew her entire family's savings from banks and even borrowed money from coworkers. She collected about two million yuan in cash ($320,000). It wasn't because she wanted to go on a wild end of the world adventure.
The woman, who is a well-educated senior engineer wanted to donate all of the money to the poor children so they could have some joy during their last few days on earth. Luckily, someone found out about her plan and stopped her, but it didn't stop her beliefs.
"Since the world will soon come to an end and we'll all be gone, what should we keep our property and money for?," she said, according to Asia Times.
After this story, more stories of doomsday phobia started to arise in China.
While the woman in the first incident wanted to use her funds to help others, some are spending their money for selfish purposed before the world ends. A carpenter in Chongqing municipality spent his whole family's savings of 110,000 yuan on fine dinners and drink. He did this right before his wife was about the give birth. The wife wound up leaving him and took their daughter with her because of his selfish behavior.
In the Zhejiang province, two cousins quit their jobs and became robbers after reading that the world will end in 2012. They committed 12 thefts and spent the money by indulging in food and drinks before police caught them.
A woman in Hohhot threw her valuables literally right out of the window as she figured they'd be meaningless since everything else is about to be destroyed on doomsday.
While some are giving up, others are trying to prepare for the end of the world. In Xianjian, a man spent over one million yuan to build an ark to try to escape the destruction. Another man is Henan province built a similar boat which would git his family, their valuables and some livestock.
Others are taking advantage of people's doomsday phobia. A businessman in Zhejiang started selling "modern Noah's arks" which he said would withstand volcano eruptions, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes and nuclear radiation, making it the perfect doomsday survival tool. The boats go to one million to five million yuan and he already received 21 orders.
So why are intelligent Chinese people giving into this superstition? Some blame it on a lack of spirituality. As there is no national ideology to replace Marxism and Maoism, people hold onto material things and novel ideas. Others believe it is due to a feeling on insecurity in today's society. People are too worried about possible negative outcomes when it comes to taking risks. Since people are worried about the possible outcomes of everyday choices, they also make it easy to believe that the world is close to its end.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
