An 88-year old man in Wuhan, Hubei province, fell on the ground, and getting no immediate help from passersby died one and half hours after being taken to hospital. Frequent incidents of kind-hearted people being caught in trouble after helping others have had a negative impact on the public and prompted it to be indifferent, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

That a simple incident has drawn so much attention shows that the moral understanding of society is not as low as some people took it to be. But there is still a mismatch between moral cognition and daily practices of the people. This can be attributed to two factors: whether authorities enforce the law impartially and whether citizens are fully aware of their social responsibility.

What could be worse than "an old woman repaying a stranger's kindness with ingratitude" is the failure of authorities to distinguish between right and wrong. Many people have mistaken some judicial sentences to mean that doing a good deed could invite trouble and sometimes even punishment, and hence shy away from helping others in need.

That's why it is important for the authorities to play their roles right and publicize the values attached to altruism.

On the other hand, social trust has been rather fragile as the Peng Yu case showed. It was closely related to citizens' lack of social awareness. Lack of social trust and obligation will make people self-centered.

Though the foundation of social trust is quite fragile, we should be optimistic because only in some extreme cases people have not stepped forward to help others.

The lack of social trust, however, has raised several questions that deserve our attention, and it would make a world of difference if the authorities and the public helped each other to become more socially involved.

(China Daily 09/09/2011 page9)