China: a economically booming country that lacks humanity?

On October 13th, 2011, a two-year old girl in the Foshan area in China was hit and ran over by not just one, but two vehicles. As if this wasn't bad enough for her fragile little body that, in the next ten minutes, 18 pedestrians will pass by, but none, none of them will be willing to lend a hand, or even call the police to report the accident.

It showed the people, all varying in age, gender, working class. What especially shook me to reality was when a mother with her child, seemingly around the same age as little Wang Yue, walks by without giving second glances. How a child's mother be put in that situation and not call for help? Surely, maybe some of her father's hardware store neighbours would help, but no one, until a 58 year old scavenger woman decided to move her lifeless body to the side and go look for aid.

This incident led chills down my spine for a very very long time.

But the ugly truth behind the Chinese society today is that there are far too many people in China. Over two billion and growing, there is that lack of sense community. The country has grown too right wing, only caring about their own benefits and losses.

Another explanation to this accident would be similar situations from before, where a elder has fallen down, a warm-hearted pedestrians decides to step in and help, but ends up being framed by the senior of pushing them down. In a place like China, where competition for jobs is fierce, and a place with a large middle class workers, they cannot bet their incomes on the conscience of the family.

The girl is in now hospital, but when and whether she will ever awake is a mystery that her family wishes to be soon solved.