Attack shows up schism between words, action

The silence from bystanders was deafening when all you could hear from the video of the Zhaoyuan beating was a woman's screams. The subsequent soul-searching reveals a nation caught in a quandary between the instincts for self-protection and the need to do the right thing

A nation was shocked over the weekend when videos of a vicious beating went viral. On the evening of May 28, a diner at a local McDonald's restaurant in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province, was approached by six people who asked for her phone number. She refused. They lashed out at her, and she was pronounced dead a few hours later.

Those who fatally beat her did not look like a gang of thugs. One was a father with three of his children, one of whom was underage. After a night of intense speculation, the public was informed that the perpetrators belonged to an illegal cult called "the Church of Almighty God". They were recruiting new members when they asked patrons for contact information. They told the police that they struck the woman because they saw her as a "demon".

One of the videos was obviously taken by a patron who kept a safe distance from the incident. It is blurry and rarely has the target in the frame, but the screaming is loud and clear. It seems other customers all retreated like the videographer. There was no sign that anyone intervened. (It was later revealed that a McDonald's employee did attempt to stop the beating and was injured in the process. Employees or patrons called the emergency number for help. But even the arrival of the police a few minutes later did not deter the attackers, which is a likely testament to the viciousness of the attack.)

The lack of intervention by the bystanders triggered a massive campaign of soul-searching. Are people so cold-hearted and self-protective that they won't lend a hand to a helpless woman being assaulted? Granted, it was difficult for those at the scene to judge what caused the incident, but the malevolence of the assault was quite obvious. Perhaps its cold-blooded nature sent an instant signal that anyone who dared to intervene might be risking his or her own life.

Looking at the photo of the woman lying in a big pool of blood, people could not avoid the question, "If I were present, what would I have done?"

Cui Yongyuan, a well-known television host, wrote on weibo: "I cannot sleep tonight. I saw the video of the killers, the onlookers and the woman screaming. Had I been there, would I have rushed to help her? Probably not. Nobody expected to come across something like this in his life. We would not intervene and we would find excuses for our non-action. This is who we are. How did we come to this stage of cowardice? Tonight we feel a collective sense of shame."

Cui probably spoke for many who knew their own response and could not reconcile the failure to act and their moral stand. But others offered different takes. Some said that calling for help was an appropriate response given the circumstances.

Li Guoqing, CEO of Dangdang, an online bazaar, wrote: "If I were there, I would not have had the courage to be a hero. But I would have knelt down to shield her from the attack and to awaken the conscience of the attackers."

He was ridiculed for being too schmaltzy and pretentious. They saw it as a rationalization for making himself look better than he actually could be.

Han Hong, an ethnic Tibetan singer known for being blunt, wrote: "I can't take it! I'm bursting with rage! A woman was crying and nobody stepped up. So many men were walking around in the background as if nothing was happening. Our country! Our people!"

Well, she did not say what she would have done. Whatever position she might have taken, intervening or not intervening, she would have gotten a barrage of criticism, either for hypocrisy or for gutlessness.

While celebrities were in a mood of moral introspection, anonymous netizens flashed their indignation like trophies. A typical posting went like this: "I would have come forward and tried to tame the attackers!"

Later, these people were labeled "keyboard heroes" because they were said to be the same people who would have stayed at a safe distance and watched quietly as the outbreak of violence claimed its victim. There is little cost in playing up one's righteousness in a virtual landscape, but in the real world people go by a different set of rules. The dichotomy has long been noticed by some. For example, much of the online populace show an unalloyed impatience for corruption, but if they were given the same opportunities many of them would do exactly what corrupt officials have done, if not worse, so goes the argument.

Lu Xun (1881-1936), unflinching in his expose of the Chinese character, offered a classic scene in his fiction that epitomizes the indifference of the bystander. A young revolutionary in the late Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911) was being executed, and a large crowd gathered to watch the spectacle. Those were the people whose rights the victim was championing, yet they did not show a trace of emotion, let alone sympathy or support. One of them was actually waiting to dip his steamed buns in the victim's blood because it was rumored to be a cure for his son's disease.

This scene is significant because it captures the typical Chinese attitude in this kind of situation. More than a century has gone by since the incident in Lu Xun's story, but it seems we have not undergone any fundamental change. A few years ago, a small child was run down in traffic. Many vehicles and pedestrians passed by, but nobody stopped to help. Video evidence like that functions as a mirror held up for us to see our own alarming level of apathy.

It would be unfair to characterize the whole Chinese population as if it were one person. There are frequent reports of ordinary people in spontaneous moments of extraordinary heroism. Some risk their lives and others go out of their way to help. On April 14, Jin Han, an actor with Beijing People's Art Theater, was injured when he tried to stop a robbery. Jin got more publicity partly because of his profession.

Unlike in the old days when incidents like this were enlarged for others to emulate, a new trend has emerged that portrays the protagonists as ordinary people who performed heroic deeds. While it takes pressure off those who tend to shy away from confrontations, it also casts such acts of heroism in a more accessible light. People act not because they have to, but because they want to. At the same time, pragmatic questions are raised such as compensation for those who lose their lives or incur injuries. As a result, some city governments have allocated funds for such purposes.

The collective sense of inadequacy as well as the fake chutzpah in cyberspace arises from the innermost knowledge that it is the right thing to do. The keyboard heroes may be hypocritical, but at least they know right from wrong. In many, more complicated situations, they may not even know what's right or wrong. Now that we have become aware of the gap between what we think and what we do, the quandary may be slightly eased for those who are tempted to take action.

The writer is editor-at-large of China Daily. Contact him at raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/06/2014 page30)