Bridge over the river: how an attempt to help people turned into a prison term for a resident of China (4 photos)

A Chinese man who built a pontoon bridge for an isolated village at his own expense has been fined multiple times and eventually sentenced to two years in prison for unauthorized construction.





Until 2005, the village of Zhenlin in northern China's Jilin Province was completely cut off by the Tao'er River, forcing locals to walk about 70 kilometers to the nearest bridge. However, everything changed when a villager named Huang Deyi, who had previously operated a small ferry to and from the village, decided to do what the regional government had failed to do: build a small bridge across the river.

The primitive pontoon bridge was well received by the locals, and people were happy to pay Huang a small fee to use the bridge, as it was much cheaper and quicker than driving 70 km to the nearest authorized bridge. Things were going well, and in 2014, Huang Deyi and 17 other villagers improved the bridge by welding together 13 metal boats to support heavier vehicles, but four years later, the Taonan Water Resources Department came knocking at his door, ordering him to dismantle the bridge and accusing him of illegally profiting from it.



The dismantling of the bridge did not spare Huang from prosecution: in 2019, he was detained along with several family members and charged with several crimes, including collecting 44,000 yuan ($6,200) from cars that used his bridge between 2014 and 2018. A subsequent investigation found that Huang had charged more than 52,000 yuan ($7,300) from cars since 2005, and he was initially sentenced to two years in prison and another two years of probation.





Huang Deyi appealed the court's verdict, admitting that his bridge was not approved by local authorities, but claiming that he only did it to help the local community. As for the toll collection, he claimed that the so-called profits were inflated by prosecutors, since the two bridges he built across the Tao'er River cost him more than 130,000 yuan ($18,300).

The businessman's first appeal was rejected in 2021, but he filed a new one in 2023, and the case is pending. The story has sparked heated debate on Chinese social media, with some saying Huang and his family got what they deserved, while others say he was merely doing his community a favor when the authorities failed to act.

"Huang's family wouldn't have had a chance to make a profit if there was a bridge already there," one Weibo user commented, while others noted that locals were happy to pay tolls on the bridge because it was cheaper and faster than traveling to the nearest "official" bridge. However, there were also those who questioned the safety of Huang's construction, asking who would take responsibility in the event of an accident.



What's the bottom line? The authorities promised to build a bridge across the Tao'er River closer to Zhenlin Village, but they have not yet fulfilled their promise.