In moments, New Year’s revelry became fatal crush in Shanghai

SHANGHAI — With a dazzling light show set to begin at midnight, a
huge crowd of revelers had gathered for an outdoor New Year’s Eve in
this city’s historic riverfront district. They began to grow unruly.

上海——因为午夜即将上演一场耀眼的灯光秀，一大群狂欢的人聚集在这座城市的一处历史悠久的河边区，参加户外跨年。人群开始出现骚动。

“We were just trying to walk up the steps to see the light show, and
then people at the top began pushing their way down,” said a 20-year-old
man. “Then I heard someone scream, and people began to panic.”

“我们当时就是想走上台阶看灯光秀，然后上面的人开始往下推，”一名20岁的男子说。“然后我听到有人尖叫，人们开始慌起来。”

The man, who spoke while awaiting a friend at Shanghai No. 1 People’s Hospital, said, “We got crushed.”

受访时正在上海第一人民医院等候朋友的这名男子说，“我们被挤扁了。”

In an instant, a stampede trampled and asphyxiated dozens of people.
So thick were the crowds here that ambulances struggled to reach the
victims, who had been partying moments before and now lay suffering or
lifeless, some with dirty footprints on their clothes.

一瞬间，人潮导致数十人遭到踩踏或窒息。人群太过庞大，救护车无法抵达受害者身旁，这些人刚刚还在狂欢，此刻却已躺在地上痛苦不堪或一动不动，一些人的衣服上还留着脏鞋印。

By Thursday afternoon, at least 36 people had died in the stampede
and 47 were known to be injured, and the police conceded that they had
been ill prepared.

截至周四下午，至少已有36人在此次踩踏事件中死亡，且据知有47人受伤。警方承认他们准备不足。

Even for China, the world’s most populous country, with a history of
fatal stampedes and constant worries about crowd control, it was one of
the worst public tragedies. It was made more so because the stampede
happened during a celebration in a historic showcase area of Shanghai,
its version of Times Square.

作为世界上人口最多的国家，致命性踩踏事件在中国时有发生，对人群控制的担忧一直存在。然而此事即使放在中国也是最严重的公共场所悲剧之一。而事件发生在上海市内历史悠久的观光胜地，一个相当于上海的时报广场的地方，因此显得更为触目惊心。

Most of the victims were Chinese in their teens and 20s, who had
hoped to ring in 2015 partying in the area, the Bund, the city’s famed
riverfront promenade.

大部分遇难者是十几岁或二十几岁的中国人。他们本来希望在上海著名的外滩尽情狂欢，迎接2015年的到来。

The stampede was a reminder of the challenges the authorities face in
managing China’s megacities. Like other metropolises around the world,
Shanghai has made its New Year’s Eve celebration a signature event, with
light shows and performances late into the night.

此次踩踏事件提醒了中国当局在管理超大城市时面临的挑战。和世界各地的大城市一样，上海通过举行持续至深夜的灯光秀和表演，将新年夜的庆祝变成了一项标志性的活动。

This year’s big attraction was billed as a “5D Light Show” that was
supposed to project colorful blazes onto the Bund. The light-show
festivities included the city’s newest landmark, the 2,074-foot Shanghai
Tower, one of the world’s tallest buildings. But at least one of the
shows had been canceled ahead of the stampede, and word had not reached
all the revelers.

今年宣传的最大卖点是“5D灯光秀”。活动本该让外滩色彩缤纷，艳丽夺目。灯光秀活动包括这座城市最新的地标性建筑，即632米高的全世界最高的建筑之一上海中心大厦。在踩踏事件发生前，至少有一场表演被取消了，但并非所有狂欢者都知晓这一消息。

Many people who had been milling around the Bund on Wednesday night
said the huge crowds simply overwhelmed the authorities and the event
organizers in this city of 25 million.

周三夜里在外滩附近闲逛的许多人表示，在这座2500万人口的城市里，大规模的人群让政府和活动主办方完全不知所措。

Among the dead were 25 women, aged 16 to 36, according to Xinhua, the
official news agency. Besides the Chinese residents, the authorities
said the casualties included one person from Taiwan and one from
Malaysia.

官方通讯社新华社称，遇难者中有25名女性，年龄在16岁至36岁之间。除大陆公民外，当局称还有两名分别来自台湾和马来西亚的遇难者。

A video posted on youku.com appears to show an enormous mass of
celebrators pushing and yelling and crushing young people under its
weight.

从发布在优酷上的一段视频来看，一个超大规模的庆祝人群正在大声叫喊着相互推挤。

Some participants said the crowd may have been even larger than the
300,000 people who, according to an official count, had attended a year
ago.

一些参与者称，人群规模甚至可能超过了官方去年统计的30万人。

After the stampede, and the ensuing chaos as ambulances tried to
reach victims sprawled in what is usually a busy traffic intersection,
the remaining light show was canceled. Police officers stood shoulder to
shoulder to permit ambulance access. But many victims died before
reaching a hospital, the authorities said.

踩踏事件及救护车试图抵达受害者身旁时发生的混乱过后，余下的灯光秀被取消。受害者躺着的地方，本是通常交通繁忙的十字路口。警察肩并肩站在一起，以确保救护车能进入现场。但当局称，许多受害者在抵达医院前就去世了。

President Xi Jinping ordered an immediate investigation. And by
afternoon, the police were even looking into reports that partygoers in a
nearby building may have contributed by tossing fake $100 bills into
the area.

中国国家主席习近平要求抓紧调查踩踏事件原因。下午，警方还调查了关于附近一栋大楼俱乐部的人员向该地区抛洒100美元钞票仿制品，从而引发了踩踏的说法。

The police later ruled out that theory, saying that the phony currency had been tossed after the stampede.

警方后来排除了这种可能性，称抛洒假美钞是在踩踏事件之后。

Still, they admitted having not anticipated such a problem. The
Xinhua account said “the police expressed regret over their failure to
effectively intervene when the tourist flow ‘increased irregularly’ at
11:30 p.m.”

不过，警方承认没有预料到会发生这种问题。新华社的报道称，“对于在11点30分‘人流异常增多’时未能实施有效干预，警方表达了遗憾。”

On Thursday afternoon, four Shanghai hospitals were treating the
injured while friends and relatives waited. In the lobby of Changzheng
Hospital, the mother of a 16-year-old stampede victim dropped to her
knees when told that her daughter had not survived.

周四下午，四家上海医院参与到伤员的救治中，他们的亲友在一旁焦急地等待。在长征医院的大厅里，在得知自己16岁的女儿不治身亡后，一位母亲跪在了地上。

“I can’t take it! I want to die,” the woman cried as her relatives tried to console her. “I don’t want to live. I can’t go on!”

“我接受不了!我想死，”这位女士大哭了起来，亲属们都设法安慰她。“我不想活了。我活不下去了!”

In China, New Year’s Eve celebrations are a relatively new affair,
far less significant and theatrical than the annual Chinese New Year
celebrations that take place according to the traditional calendar,
usually in late January or early February. And yet, every year, the
crowds that gather in major Chinese cities on Dec. 31 seem to get
bigger.

在中国，新年前夜的庆祝活动相对来说是新生事物，远没有中国农历新年的庆祝活动隆重。农历新年通常出现在1月末或2月初。然而，每年的12月31日，在中国大城市聚集起来举行庆祝活动的人似乎越来越多。

In Shanghai, the Bund is one of the most popular tourist spots, a
strip of hulking, pre-World War II buildings built largely by the
British. Now elegantly restored and illuminated at night, the buildings
house banks, upscale restaurants, nightclubs and five-star hotels,
including the Peace Hotel and the Waldorf-Astoria Shanghai.

外滩是上海最受欢迎的旅游景点之一，在这个狭长地带有许多二战前的宏伟建筑，大多为英国人建造。这些精美的建筑保存完好，在夜里发出绚丽夺目的灯
光。建筑内有银行、高档餐厅、夜总会和五星级宾馆，其中包括和平饭店和上海的华尔道夫-阿斯特里亚(Waldorf-Astoria)酒店。

The city spent $732 million between 2007 and 2010 to renovate the
Bund, expanding the promenade and making more room for tourists to
delight in gazing at the historic buildings or across the Huangpu River
toward the new financial district, filled with high-rise apartment
buildings, office towers and oversize advertising displays.

从2007年到2010年，上海斥资约45亿元人民币对外滩进行了翻新，扩建了步行区，让游客有更多空间可以欣赏这些历史建筑，以及黄浦江对岸林立着高层公寓大楼、写字楼和巨大广告展示屏的新金融区。

The makeover was so successful that much bigger crowds now tour the
riverfront day and night, so numerous that some of the luxury shops have
relocated.

对外滩的翻新极为成功，在白天和夜晚来到江边游览的人数大幅增加。由于游客数量太多，一些奢侈品店甚至从外滩撤离。

On Thursday, there were large crowds once again walking the Bund, but
also police cars and vans in the area near Chen Yi Square. Some
visitors placed bouquets near the statue of Chen Yi, a former military
commander and onetime Shanghai mayor.

周四，外滩再次聚集了大量游客，不过陈毅广场附近仍停着几辆警车和面包车。一些游客把花束放在陈毅塑像周围。陈毅曾经是一名军事将领，担任过上海市长。