Ding Jianping: The reluctant base Jumper

When Ding Jianping (丁建平) did his first BASE jump from Shanghai’s Jinmao Tower in 2004， domestic media lauded him as China’s first competitor in the sport. But the longtime skydiver remained reluctant. Why? BASE jumping， an extreme sport that involves jumping off tall buildings or other fixed structures with a parachute， is incredibly dangerous， and since its invention in 1978 it has had a fatality rate of about one in every 60 jumps. Still， that hasn’t stopped Ding from jumping off structures ranging from skyscrapers to sinkholes.

On the day I became a skydiver， I didn’t have the slightest clue what was happening. It was 1981， and I was sitting in my high school class. Suddenly the P.E. teacher came in and asked several students， including me， to come out. And then， without them telling us anything， we were put through a physical test. It was later that I found out I was going to be a skydiver， but at the time I thought they were recruiting me into the air force. Not until the last minute did they tell me I was becoming an athlete.

That was how skydiver screening worked back then. The head of the Henan Province parachute team came to our school and asked the P.E. teacher to pick out the brightest， strongest and most agile students. Then he handpicked his personal team from thousands of candidates.

Though skydiving was not my own choice， it suits me well. I’ve been parachuting for 31 years and never felt in real danger—except for once. There was a jump in 1982 when the four of us were holding hands to form a pattern， and we forgot about time. When you’re floating in the air， you don’t feel like you are actually plummeting to the ground at a speed of 60 meters per second. We remembered at the last second and opened our parachutes， reaching the ground almost as soon as they’d opened. But other than that one occasion， skydiving has always felt safe and easy for me. In addition to skydiving， I’ve won prizes participating in rally races as well.

It was in 1990 that the idea of BASE jumping entered my head. I first saw it on TV and heard the news that a number of foreigners were doing it. Of course， there were plenty of reports of accidents too， but I thought， well， I’ve spent all my life skydiving; I should try something new. But at that time China didn’t have the kind of parachutes that you need for BASE jumping， and I didn’t do my first jump until 2004.

You have to be an experienced skydiver to do BASE jumping. Unlike skydiving， BASE jumping can’t be done out of an airplane or helicopter. In order of difficulty from easy to hard， the jump-off spots are buildings， cliffs， towers and bridges. For my first jump， I chose Jinmao Tower in Shanghai， the third tallest building in China at 420.5 meters high. To be honest， I wasn’t an instant convert. It takes someone with extraordinary capacity to handle the risk and mental pressure， and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else try it. You land almost immediately after your parachute opens—if anything happens during these few seconds， you’re done for. However， as China’s first BASE jumper， the media immediately pushed me into the spotlight， which I didn’t really like. So many people were expecting me to do it again that I couldn’t resist the pressure. The next year I jumped off the 386.5-meter high CCTV Tower. My most recent jump was into the karst sinkhole in Fengjie， Chongqing. My first jump still stands out as the hardest I’ve done so far. After all， I still consider myself a professional skydiver， and I don’t really like the way they labeled me as a BASE jumper. It’s just something I took an interest in.

I have a full-time job as the head coach of the Henan parachute team， and the prospects for skydiving in China worry me. In China’s aviation world， things are now totally different. Parents are unwilling to send their children parachuting because they only have one， and they want them to go to university instead of taking on such a dangerous career. Now， in most cases， we can only recruit from the students who are considered hopeless in school.

The skydiving community is also getting very small; there are only around 100 professionals nationwide. I think the number of skydiving amateurs is growing， but we do not have a system that encourages them. In China， even if you have the money and interest， parachuting remains highly inaccessible. Although the National Sports Bureau has been calling for more social involvement， it’s just a slogan.

I do take risks， but never blindly. In terms of being an adventurer， my son may outdo me. When he was little， he regarded me as a hero. When he was three he always asked to watch my parachuting videotapes， and he really enjoyed them. But once when the adults were all out， he climbed onto a stool and jumped out the window， just as I jumped out of airplanes. Our apartment was on the third floor. Fortunately he fell onto a cotton quilt that someone was sunbathing on， and only ended up with three stitches on his chin.