Sickening Video: Two Vans Hit Chinese Toddler...18 Passers-by Ignore Her Suffering

The video is a frame-by-frame indictment of stunning apathy in the face of horrible suffering.  At least 18 people simply walk by after a little girl is hit by two vans.

It is very difficult to watch.  There are edited versions in reports posted further down in this post.  But, be warned, this is the full version that shows the moments of impact when the little girl is hit by the vans:

CNN:

Beijing (CNN) -- Gruesome footage of a toddler falling victim to two successive hit-and-run accidents and then being ignored by many passers-by at the scene last week in southern China continued to galvanize the nation Monday, prompting a fierce debate on the state of morality in Chinese society.

A security camera captured the horrific incident last Thursday outside a hardware market in Foshan, Guangdong Province. Two-year-old Wang Yue was seen toddling in the middle of a narrow street and looking around, oblivious to a fast-approaching white van.

The disturbing video shows the van knocking the girl over. The driver briefly stops with the girl underneath the van, before continuing on, its rear tires slowly rolling over her small body. The girl is left barely moving in her own blood as several pedestrians and cyclists pass by.

Minutes later, another small truck drives over Wang without slowing down, the video shows. More passers-by walked, cycled or drove around her motionless body without stopping -- until a woman carrying a sack appeared 10 minutes after the initial collision. Dropping her sack, she quickly moved the girl to safety and went to look for help.

Wang remained in critical condition Monday afternoon in a military hospital in the nearby city of Guangzhou, her father told CNN.

ABC News:

The most popular regional paper The NanFang Daily wrote an editorial about “gathering the scraps of China’s conscience.”

With the introspection comes who or what to blame for the degradation of “Chinese morality” and there seems to be a consensus about the perceived source of the current state of apathy. One netizen wrote, “Don’t blame the passersby; it was a Nanjing judge that killed this little girl.” [YueYue is still alive.]

The “Nanjing judge” refers to an infamous 2006 incident where a young man named Peng Yu went to the aid of an elderly woman who had fallen down on the street in the eastern city of Nanjing. At the woman’s request, Peng helped take her to the hospital only to have the woman turn around and accuse him for being the person who knocked her down. A Nanjing judge then ruled that “common sense” suggested that Peng only took the woman to the hospital because he was guilty and ordered him to pay her medical expenses.

The story was picked up by the Chinese media and quickly became a cautionary tale for many Chinese: no good deed goes unpunished.

This edited video shows the parade of people walking by while ignoring the little girl:

China Daily:

After two and a half days of treatment, good news came Monday morning that Yue Yue has regained the ability to take weak breaths with the help of respirator. The rest of her condition, including blood pressure and heart beat, shows signs of stability. However, the child's life is still in danger and she hasn't recovered the ability to breathe upsupported, reported Guangzhou Daily.

Rescuer gets big rewards

Civilization office of Foshan's Nanhai district on Monday presented 10,000 yuan ($1,570) to Chen Xianmei, a rubbish collector who offered aid to Yue Yue after the incident happened, as a reward for her kind deed, China Daily reported.

Meanwhile, a company in Foshan said that they will donate 50,000 yuan to Yue Yue’s family and the rescuer respectively.

“Besides the reward, we would like to offer Chen a job with stable income so as to encourage this kind of activity,” said an anonymous assistant manager at the company.

Hit-and-run drivers: sorry for the victim's family

As for the two drivers who hit Yue Yue, one was caught by police and the other turned himself in on Monday.

Both drivers said they didn't see the child before the accident happened, according to the police. The first driver who knocked down Yue Yue expressed regret, deep sadness and apologies to the child’s family.