Several days after the media reported that a farmer in Hua county, Henan province, had given away radishes for free because of low market prices, more than 10,000 people rushed to grab his harvest causing a huge loss to him. The farmer lost other crops, too, including 20,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes. This has sparked heated discussions online on Chinese people's declining honesty and moral health, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

The reports did not make it clear whether the farmer had designed a system to distribute the radishes. If he had not, then it is highly likely that people who came to know about it would have assumed they could take away whatever they laid their hands on.

After all, getting free vegetables is a rather attractive proposition, especially in times of high inflation. This fact may have escaped the farmer's mind when he decided to distribute the radishes for free.

Worse, it is almost impossible for a farmer without any experience in public management to effectively control a crowd of people fighting to get something for free.

When people are part of a crowd, they tend to forget ethical norms. They enter into an agitated state which more often than not ends in chaos. Given these circumstances, people who are criticizing Chinese people's low ethical quality would have done the same.

One should never judge people's quality when they are in abnormal or extraordinary circumstances. It is true that the moral consciousness of many Chinese is far from satisfying. But it is still unfair to label it low.

We have to know that most people maintain discipline and follow all moral norms most of the times. Exceptions cannot be ruled out, though.

As for the farmer's case, it proves why good planning is important for smooth execution of a program - and that applies to wider society, too.

(China Daily 12/06/2011 page9)