ANN – 7 hours ago
Despite critics' disparagements of the woman who rescued a
2-year-old girl this past week in Foshan, Guangdong province, the
girl's mother said she believes the rescuer is a good person.
'I don't have enough words to thank her with,' the mother, who
would identify herself only as Qu, said at the hospital on
Monday.
Her praise was for Chen Xianmei, a 57-year-old woman who moved Mrs
Qu's daughter Yue Yue to the side of a road after the girl had been
run over by a van and a truck in a hardware market this past
Thursday. Before Mrs Chen came to the rescue, 18 people had walked
past Yue Yue without helping her.
A number of shopkeepers close to the accident scene denied that
they had witnessed what had happened. Mrs Chen was the first person
to offer help.
The rescuer hails from Qingyuan, Guangdong province, and lives with
her son in Foshan, cooking meals at a small company in the morning
and picking up rags in the afternoon.
According to Mrs Qu, Mrs Chen would occasionally remove refuse from
the shop Mrs Qu runs in the hardware market.
'Every time she saw used cartons or plastic bottles, she would ask
me, 'Do you still want them or not?' before she collected them,'
Mrs Qu said. 'She is a good person. There is no doubt about
that.'
Learning of the case, the public has poured out its anger on the
passers-by who ignored the girl while praising Mrs Chen for being
the only person at the accident scene who gave evidence of
possessing a conscience.
Recalling the accident, Mrs Chen said: 'I was picking up trash in
the hardware market when I saw a child lying in the road. I walked
up in a hurry to the girl and heard her groan. I lifted her up and
saw that one of her eyes was closed, that she had tears in her
eyes, and she was bleeding from her mouth, nose and the back of her
head.
'I wanted to carry her but she was soft and collapsed immediately.
I was scared to try again and so I dragged her to the side of the
road and shouted for help. But nobody showed up,' Mrs Chen was
quoted in Yangcheng Evening News as saying. Mrs Chen asked a few
nearby shopkeepers who the girl was and only heard 'I don't know'
in reply.
Mrs Chen said she was not afraid of being wrongfully blamed for the
accident. 'When I see old people who fall down, I help them,' she
said. 'Somebody has to help. The most important thing is to save a
life. She was just a little child. It was dark, but I could
definitely see her.'
Since the rescue, Mrs Chen said she has been bewildered by the
number of requests for media interviews she has received. She also
heard that critics have accused her of helping the girl merely out
of a desire for publicity.
Her daughter-in-law, who declined to state her full name, said
those comments have been disappointing.
'Is it really so difficult to be a good person?' she said.
Mrs Qu said she puts no stock in what the critics are saying.
'I am truly grateful,' she said. 'She is really kind, not the type
of person who enjoys publicity.'
Speaking of the indifferent passers-by, Mrs Qu said: 'I won't judge
them. Let them make their own judgment. If they are married and
have children, they will know. But I bear no grudge and refuse to
be disappointed by society. Many kind people have come to
help.'
Mrs Qu said she plans to stay by her daughter's side at the
hospital where the girl is undergoing treatment.
'I didn't care for my child very well, and it's my fault,' she
said. 'But Yue Yue can't leave her mother and her mum won't leave
her.'
Yue Yue, who remains in a critical condition, underwent a special
test of her brainstem on Monday. The results of that will show
whether she is brain dead, said Dr Wang Weimin, director of the
neurosurgery department of the General Hospital of the Guangzhou
Military Command of the People's Liberation Army. The hospital said
the test results will be made public on Tuesday.
Yue Yue's mother wrote on her micro blog that her daughter's four
limbs have shown signs of having feeling and a doctor said her
progress has been much better than expected.
Meanwhile, the civilisation office of Foshan's Nanhai district
presented 10,000 yuan (S$1,987) to Mrs Chen on Monday as a reward
for her kind deed, said Mr Guo Yu, director of the office.
'I feel indignant and disappointed about the passers-by, who should
reflect on what their behaviour says about themselves,' he said.
'It wasn't that difficult to help the girl, and Chen Xianmei did it
out of her heart and conscience.'
Charity groups have received donations for the girl and Mrs Chen,
Mr Guo said.
As for the drivers who hit Yue Yue, one has been caught by the
police and the other has turned himself in, Wang Zhen'an, chief of
the Foshan traffic police, said on Monday.
