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this 24-hour hototline is r from a roomm in anan unassuming building in tianjin. the subjects vary. this caller is a female university student who says her father is physically abusing her.

>> the caller was initially suicidal, but the hotline counselor was able to bring her back from the brink.

the hope line is a toll free hotline run by volunteers with day jobs. they listen to the problems of strarangers, butut they t too h struggleles of their own.

>> in this episode we look at a hotline that serves as a light in the dark for lost and exhausted souls at the edge of a vast country.

as people reap the rewards of rapid economic development in china they also experience increasing amounts of stress. as society in china grows more competitive and focused on material wealth the income gap between cities and rural a area that has grown larger and more people have fallen into isolation. it is reported that nearly 300,000 people take their lives every year. with no one to talk to, many have no choice but to keep their problems to themselves. hotline volunteer leo yonshun is blind. so he has his daughter accompany

him to the call center. this is where hotline volunteers share four shifts a day to provide the hotline's 24-hour service. a call comes in as soon as liu arrives.

the caller is an unwed woman in her 20s. her father wouldn't allow her to get married, so she felelt forc to abort her baby. ththe fatheher opposed the marr because the groom didn't offer enough betrothal money.

>> the hope line's core members hold a meeting once a month. these volunteers come from all walks of life, public servants, privatate sector workers, teachers, counselors and more. but they have all obtained the national counseling license required for the job. today they're discussing counseling methods for suicidal callers.

>> the hope line was launched in shanghai in 2013, and now has 28 branch offices nationwide. he haiyin founded the tianjin office. she works as an instructor at a counseling center. she began her current work in 2015 after a series of explosions in tianjin, a massive warehouse filled with chemical products caught fire and exploded. in the official announcement 173 were reported dead or missing. with an additional 798 injured. after the explosion residents had to evacuate due to fears of chemical leakage, prolonging their anxiety. citizens needed counseling. and the tianjin hope line was created to fulfill that need.

currently the tianjin branch of hope line gets more than 10,000 calls from parts of northern china every year. more than any other branch in china.

liu runs two stores, offering massage services and counseling services in suburban tianjin. when he was 10 he was blinded in a roadside accident while

playing with a friend. after high school he became a counselor and masseur a n n lilives comfortrtably wit his w and siblings.

the hopeline has been getting more and more calls from teens and people in their 20s. members of this generation grew up under the one child policy and have previously unheard of financial stability. but they're often unhappy. many young people report feeling crushed by the pressures of modern socieiety. this call iss from a man in his 20s who says he's isolated himself at his parent's home in rural china.

>> the caller asked his parents for nearly $9,000 to pay gambling debts, but was unable to quit,, eventually losing another $12,000.

>> this caller says he's had clinicalal depression for the pt three years, but continues working because his parents wouldn't be able to support him.

>> after a two-hour call the man said he felt better and thanked the counselor, saying he would

call again. the hope line listens to struggling callers 24 hours a day. li zhi leads the counselorors w make this p possible. she obtained her counseling license after retiring from a major compapany through her volunteer work at thee hotline she facaces her ow emototional issues.

>> there is a man who calls whenever it rains.

>> across the vastness of china, from big cities to rural villages, hotline counselors lend their ears to lonely souls on each and every day.

>> you are watching france 24. a are going to focus on report coming out from a series of u.n. experts. it is the report on the future of our planet. say one million species out of the 8 million on earth are at risk of extinction. to thegoing to listen head of unesco,