Saving Samaritans

　　Efforts to build public trust are needed to ensure strangers will help one another

　　If I fall on the ground， please help me！“ This was the slogan held on the placards of 10 seniors， all over 70， who participated in a performance art event in a bustling downtown area of Zhengzhou， central China’s Henan Province， on December 25， 2013.

　　“We’ve heard quite a few reports of passers-by hesitating to help seniors who fall down in the street，” said Li Chang’an， one of the performers. “It seems that our society is becoming cold-hearted and we feel anxious. Seniors need help.”

　　“If it were 10 years ago， I would definitely help them， but now I would give it second thought，” said a Zhengzhou resident surnamed Yang， who declined to give his full name.

　　A dilemma

　　Both Li and Yang’s concerns have a solid grounding， even if they are opposed to one another， as there were more than 10 controversial cases involving people helping fallen elderly citizens in 2013 alone.

　　On October 30， 2013， two students from Hepu Middle School in Shantou， south China’s Guangdong Province， saw an old man fall from his bicycle. They escorted the man back to his home. Later， the man unexpectedly accused the students of knocking him down and asked for compensation.

　　The two students felt that they were being extorted and turned to the police for help. After investigation， the students were found to have been wrongly accused by the man， who then apologized for “being senile.”

　　A similar incident occurred in Dazhou， Sichuan Province in the southwest， on June 15 last year. A 74-year-old woman surnamed Jiang fell down in the street and broke her leg. Three children went to assist her but were accused of knocking her down.

　　The dispute between Jiang and those who helped her lasted more than five months with the parents of the three children finally taking the matter to court. On November 22， Jiang was sentenced to seven days of administrative detention for extortion.

　　Although there were a number of incidents in 2013， the trend stretches further back. A particularly infamous incident took place on November 20， 2006. An old woman fell to the ground and broke her leg after being jostled at a bus stop in Nanjing， capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province.

　　A young man， Peng Yu， claimed that he helped the woman up and escorted her to hospital. Later the woman and her family took the man to court， where it was ruled that Peng should pay 40 percent of her medical costs.

　　The judge’s ruling read that it was likely that Peng had bumped into the old woman， given that he was the first person to get off the bus when the old woman was pushed down in front of the bus door， otherwise he would have left soon after sending the woman to the hospital instead of staying there for her diagnosis. “Peng’s behavior obviously went against common sense，” the ruling said.

　　This “reasoning” angered the whole nation. From then on， the number of pedestrians helping old people in need dramatically decreased.

　　On January 4， 2013， a 68-year-old man was found on the ground on the way to a vegetable market in Haikou， Hainan Province in south China. Although passers-by stopped and circled， no one took any action until one person called for an ambulance. Before the ambulance arrived， the man had already died.

　　In the wake of this case， old people also learned that the best way to get help was to shout a disclaimer for their would-be helpers. An old man in Henan was reported to shout out， “I fell down myself， I will not extort anybody， please help me！” after falling down and finding that nobody dared to help him last November.

　　“It is sad that senior people have to plead for help in this way，” said Zhang Sheng， a law professor at Beijing Jiaotong University. “Traditionally in China， taking care of seniors is important， but now people are at a loss when it comes to knowing the right way to help.”

　　According to a survey made by China Youth Daily in December 2013， among the 139，010 respondents， faced with an old person who had fallen over and needed assistance， 55.6 percent would choose to walk away， 23.4 percent said that they would keep a record or themselves a witness before offering help， 12.6 percent would call ambulance and wait， but only 5.4 percent said that they would help without any hesitation.

　　Zhang， however， doesn’t regard this as a loss of tradition. “I don’t think people are turning cold-hearted，” he said. “We just need to build up a system that secures the interests of both helpers and the helped.”

　　“I believe many people are warm-hearted，” said a 67-year-old Beijinger surnamed Xie， who claimed to go for a walk everyday on the street. “Nobody knows what time an accident will occur at. We are nervous as many old people have high blood pressure or heart diseases. We need help for medical emergencies.”

　　Zhou Xiang， a 26-year-old man from Shanxi Province who works in Beijing， said that he would offer help anyway. “I live far away from my parents. If my parents fall down on the street， I’d hope strangers could offer help，” Zhou noted. “So I would do the same thing to senior people here.”

　　Zhou admitted there are people fabricating false cases of injury to extort money， but he said that this trend doesn’t only exist among seniors. “It is a problem with the whole of society and it is unfair to target only old people with these suspicions，” he added.

　　On December 2， 2013， a video clip spread online that shows an argument happened on a Beijing street between a Chinese woman who had fallen from her bicycle and a young foreign man. It was initially reported that the woman had intentionally thrown herself in front of the foreigner’s motorbike to extort money from him.

　　“Although it was finally proven that the foreigner had knocked over the woman， the fact that most people believed it was the woman’s fault reflects the distrust of such people，” said Hou Xinyi， a law professor at Tianjin-based Nankai University. “Real victims might be wronged by social distrust.”

　　In early December 2013， an anonymous man in Luoyang， Henan， who claimed to be 65 years old， made a post online. “Even if someone knocks me down to the ground， it may not be intentional. I will thank those who help me up，” said the post. This man even made a will online， demanding his children not to seek compensation from anybody if an accident occurs.

　　The man’s declaration won widespread acclaim online， but Hou thought there is a better way to deal with such issues. “I think we need to set up an integrity credit system to curb extortions instead of relying on individual’s efforts in bettering the situation，” he said.

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