http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/17/toddler-hit-and-run-china
Many say they are too scared, blaming extortion attempts by people who have accused Good Samaritans of causing their injuries and judges who have backed such claims. But some talked of a new moral low after seeing passersby including a woman holding a small girl by the hand walk around a two-year-old lying in a pool of blood.
China Daily claimed that the woman who stopped, a rubbish collector, was even told by shopkeepers to mind her own business when she tried to find out the child’s identity.
Many internet users expressed fury, describing those who ignored Yueyue as less than human. “Where did conscience go What has happened to the Chinese people?” wrote one, Reissent1987.
Several pointed out that it was a rubbish collector among the poorest and often worst-educated members of society who stopped to help, while others carried on.
But some said that people should ask themselves how willing they would have been to help before criticising.
One said that while the footage was heartbreaking he would have been “numb” to Yueyue too. “Would you be willing to throw your entire family’s savings into the endless whirlpool of accident compensation? Aren’t you afraid of being put into jail as the perpetrator? Have you ever considered that your whole family could lose happiness only because you wanted to be a great soul?” he wrote.
Chinese media said the two drivers who had hit Yueyue were now in police custody.
http://shanghaiist.com/2011/10/17/foshan_toddler_yueyue_still_under_i.php
Earlier media reports that Yueyue, the toddler who was knocked down by two vehicles outside a market in Foshan, has passed away have turned out to be false.
Yueyue’s mother has appeared on Sina Weibo herself to clarify the situation. She said that while Yueyue was still unable to breathe on her own, her situation has stabilised, and she has regained some sensation in her limbs. Doctors say that her chances of recovery are now better than earlier estimated.
Meanwhile, the first driver who knocked down Yueyue has also been apprehended by the police. Chinese media reports say he had just broken up with his girlfriend and was on his cell phone when he hit the girl.
He had called Yueyue’s father to say he would never surrender, and that he could give him some money if that was what he wished. When a journalist called (tune in to the call below), he revealed that he was planning to escape to Xinjiang.
“You saw that girl on the CCTV footage, she didn’t see where she was going, you know. I was on the phone when it happened, I didn’t mean it,” he said. “When I realised I had knocked her down, I thought I’d go down to see how she was. Then when I saw that she was already bleeding, I decided to just step on the gas pedal and escape seeing that nobody was around me.”
“If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,125). But if she is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan,” he added.
http://shanghaiist.com/2011/10/18/meet_chen_xianmei_the_trash_collect.php
Journalists have located Chen Xianmei, the woman who came to the rescue of Yueyue, the two-year-old toddler who was knocked down by two vehicles and left to die by 18 passersby in Foshan, Guangdong province. 58-year-old Chen works as a domestic helper for a hardware shop in the market by day, and a trash collector by night. The girl’s parents are inconsolable when they finally meet their benefactor and kowtow to her profusely.
Chen says that when she found the toddler, Yueyue had one eye shut and the other eye open looking at her. After pulling the girl to the side of the road, Chen went around to all the shops in the neighbourhood asking if anyone had lost their daughter. Nobody responded.
When asked if she was afraid of getting into trouble by helping the girl, Chen said, “I didn’t think I was getting into any trouble. I didn’t think so much. I just wanted to help her.” And having said that, she excused herself form the journalists and returned to work.