Swimmers must be punished as they knowingly broke law

A VIDEO CLIP went viral online, showing a female tourist preparing to swim in a reservoir where some of her companions were already in the water, even though swimming in the lake is strictly forbidden. Thepaper.cn comments:

The woman seemed very “proud” of her rule-breaking. In the video clip, she said: “We are finishing our challenge! They forbid us to swim here, but now we are swimming against their rules.”

While she spoke, some of her companions were already swimming in the lake, which many netizens recognized as Daye Lake where swimming is prohibited because it is a source of drinking water for Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi province.

The video clip aroused fierce discussion and heavy criticism of the swimmers online. Some said the swimmers’ behavior was immoral as well as illegal, while some pointed out that by shooting the video clip and spreading it online, the swimmers have set a very bad example that might encourage others to emulate their illegal behavior.

From a larger perspective, the swimmers are only a small sample of the large number of tourists who behave in an uncivilized manner every year. To curb their uncivilized behavior, at least two measures are necessary. First, education must be strengthened, so that more tourists know the danger involved in breaking rules. Second, the laws must be more strictly enforced so that those who break them pay the price.

Now the video clip has been shared widely online, which is evidence of the woman and her companions’ illegal deeds. All people have to register under their real name to upload and share videos, so it should not be too difficult to identify the woman and her companions and hold them answerable for breaking the law.