China: toddler run over twice. Why did no one stop to help?
A CCTV video of a 2-year-old girl who was the victim of a hit and run – twice – has lit up discussion boards and blogs across China, prompting many to wonder what has happened to China's traditional code of ethics.
"High moral standards were once [touted] as national pride in China where individuals known for selflessly helping others were adored by the public," reported English news website, Xinhuanet, which is the official mouthpiece of the government.
The girl, identified as Wang Yue, and known as Yueyue, is reported to be in critical condition following Thursday's accident.
In an editorial published Tuesday titled “We could all be the pedestrians that walk past the injured girl,” the official People’s Daily applauded the trash collector who stopped to help the toddler after some 18 people passed her by.
China doesn't have a Good Samaritan law protecting those who stop to give aid, and some speculate that fear of being blamed or prosecuted for the girl's injury made so many pass without stopping.
Indeed, the Monitor's own Peter Ford wrote this dispatch from Beijing about a man who gave a sick man a free ride home and got arrested for running an unlicensed taxi.
Here's an in-depth report by Peter Ford on the moral debate in China.
