A disastrous accident at an oil well in Kaixian County of Chongqing Municipality in Southwest China last December last year killed 243 people, with hundreds of families torn apart overnight.

What great suffering the accident brought to the affected households! And no doubt we have paid a high price one more time to learn the importance of ensuring safety in production. However, in July this year, half a year after the disaster, what happened in the catastrophe-stricken village was, in some sense, more heart-rending than the accident itself. Stories there provide us with more food for thought. And bitter food it is.

The relatives of those in the village who fell victim to the man-made disaster received a total of 50 million yuan (US$6.1 million) from the state in compensation. Now, in a frenzy to grab a bigger share of the money, many family members have fallen out with each other, with some even resorting to legal proceedings against their own brothers and sisters without the least regard to the affinity that had held themselves together as kith and kin for so long.

In the wake of the compensation money came a flood of banks, financial units, lawyers and law firms to help deal with the money disputes which the loving care from the government for the victimized families had ironically been turned into. Family members who had not collected money were the plaintiffs, while those who had received some became the defendants.

Before the oil well calamity, villagers there led a peaceful life, getting along with each other in harmony. It was the industrial tragedy that spawned yet another thought-provoking tragedy, this time a conflict between money and attachment among kinsfolk. The enormous quantity of compensation money, which everyone was determined to gain from, plunged the otherwise uneventful village into utter disturbance.

One villager surnamed Tang lost 12 relatives from three generations of his family killed in the accident, including his parents, brothers and their children. The five siblings who survived were to share compensation of 230,000 yuan (US$27,600). Unfortunately, for all the protracted debates and hassles, they were unable to reach an agreement on the five-way split of the money among themselves.

The clashes culminated in a full-scale fight at the funeral ceremony for the parents, with family members throwing themselves upon one another, showering cuffs and kicks on their close relatives. Some even wielded knives. In the end, as a last resort, they had to go to court to settle the issue. Brothers and sisters became sworn enemies on the day the case was sealed. Some even went so far as to threaten to kill the whole family of the opposite side.

Though the unfortunate ending that befell the Tangs was of an extreme and exceptional nature, the ruthless struggle to seize the money in varying degrees left many others deeply scarred for the rest of their lives. That was the bitter story related by the CCTV news programme, Gongtong Guanzhu (Focus) on August 11.

Every so often we hear similar stories here in Shanghai, and indeed elsewhere throughout the country, with the majority of cases focusing on distribution of the relocation compensation in the form of cash or new dwellings between family members who have lost their old homes. Lawsuits are by no means a rare occurrence in this area. In most cases, material benefits tend to get the upper hand over the emotional attachments between the siblings.

It is distressing to see that with people getting increasingly better-off, some of them have become callous and greedy for material comforts instead of showing concern and warmth towards their previously loved ones.

As I understand it, only when material comforts are melted in the warm attachment among the dear ones around you and in the wider society can you feel happy in the true sense of the word, and experience the joy of sharing. What is the point of physically enjoying everything that your wealth can bring you while stripping yourself of the natural bonds between you and those who are your own flesh and blood?

Now the old Chinese expression "Sharing comforts and hardships", suddenly leaps to my mind. Somehow it seems to me that it is easier for a family to tide over difficult times by joint efforts than sharing material enjoyment when they live in affluence. I hope, in sober earnestness, that this is only a transient phenomenon, to be attributed to the current social effect of ever-present commercialism. With the strengthening of ideological and moral education, people, and the coming generations in particular, will be more genial and kind-hearted. I believe when in time all memory of the old scores have faded from their mind, the Tangs will be overcome with remorse and shame for what they have so foolishly done.

Said a 17-year-old boy, bereaved of his parents and grandparents in the oil-well accident: "Money doesn't matter that much. Now that we have lost so many dear ones, to have one more who is kin to you is better than one less. As to money, I can earn on my own. I am in the prime of youth". I think there is something in his remarks.

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