Recently in Chongqing, an 87-year-old man surnamed Wang stumbled and fell outside his building in a residential community. He laid there for a full five minutes before a security guard helped him up. A surveillance camera recorded 45 people, reportedly, ignore him.
Near the end of Wang’s ordeal, a group of people surrounded him and rubbernecked as if he were a car accident. Finally, two security guards helped him back to his apartment. We’re told that he was already in poor health, and that lying outside for any longer could have put his life in jeopardy.
Interviewed on camera, Wang said people were afraid that he would accuse them of pushing him down if they offered a hand. It’s an excuse that you’ve surely heard before, and surely it’s wearing thin.
One of the security guards who assisted Wang, Liu Jian, said he also hesitated before helping, but for good reason. “One time, we helped another senior citizen,” he said. “It was about 10 pm, and when we got him back, his family said we beat him. The police station investigated and found that no such thing happened.”
We applaud Liu for reaching out even after his sour past experience. For everyone else, this message:
I know we’re surrounded by scoundrels and cheats, and it’s fine to be cautious. But right now, the number of publicly documented instances of people not helping when they should far outnumber the instances of people helping when they shouldn’t have. In the former, absolutely no one looks good.
Also, security cameras: they’re everywhere. Gotta remember that.
Look on the bright side. This is perhaps the most useful that a pair of Chinese security guards have ever been.
Word!
I was talking to a group of students about this kind of situation. All in their 20′s, they all agree that the current idea of not helping those in need is very bad. But they also believe that there is a great lack of trust in modern Chinese society. In this situation most Chinese would not help someone.
Gay Chevara….of course there is a lack of trust!
The entire economy is built on graft, bribery, and kickbacks; manufacturers fake anything they can get away with; companies keep three sets of accounting books; and the only value anybody cares about is getting rich by any means possible.
well, one thing is little child lying in blood on street, where everyone should help, other thing is some drunk/homeless/beggar lying on street, where people won’t help usually even outside of China, so it’s very difficult to judge this, if he was not obviously injured and people didn’t saw him falling (of course people who saw him falling should help if they saw it was not because of alcohol)
anyway, good point with security cameras – if you are afraid to help someone in china, look for nearest security camera, if there is one you are free to help because there should be recorded what happened before you helped