Less than a week after a woman was attacked by a man at a Beijing hotel for 5 minutes with no one coming to her aid, yet another shocking video has gone viral on Chinese social media raising even more concerns about the seriousness of China’s “bystander problem.”
Last Thursday, a Dongguan resident watched from the window as a 20-year-old woman was stabbed to death in an alleyway just outside. Instead of picking up the phone to call police, this individual decided to record the brutal murder.
The video was later posted online, sparking another public outcry. It shows a woman screaming in pain on the pavement after having her waist slashed three times by a young man with a knife.
According to Sina, by the time the ambulance arrived, it was already too late, the victim had died from her wounds.
Fortunately, another bystander had noticed the man fleeing the scene and quickly called police. The suspect was soon captured by police, who say that he was the boyfriend of the victim, and believed that she had been cheating on him.
Yet again, this latest incident has sparked more soul searching online:
“What is our country coming to? When a woman can almost be abducted in a hotel and another can be killed in the streets. Still, nobody does anything,” one netizen commented.
“I don’t know how that person will ever be able to live with themselves after this,” another web user echoed.
“As long as all these crimes go unreported, our crime rate will keep getting higher and higher,” wrote another.
Watch a Chinese news report on the incident below:
China’s “bystander problem” was recently thrown back into the spotlight by the high-profile attack on a woman inside a budget hotel in Beijing. In a viral video, the woman can be seen desperately battling with her attacker as a number of onlookers pass by and do nothing to help, until one woman finally breaks up the fight, five minutes after it started.
Thanks to a deep layer of public distrust, Chinese have become infamous in recent years for failing to help strangers in need. Most tragically, was the case of Little Yue Yue, a two-year-old girl who was run over and left clinging to life in a Foshan back alley in 2011, overlooked by at least 18 passersby. Finally, a female trash collector saw her and called for help. The little girl was sent to the hospital where she died eight days later.
Last year in Zhengzhou, onlookers snapped some pictures for evidence of an elderly man who had suddenly collapsed while crossing the street, before venturing over to check if he was alright. Just in case.
[Images via Sina]