Lack of legal protections and string of extortion cases have contributed to a general reluctance to help strangers

A woman is punched and thrown to the ground by a man who then proceeds to kick her as she raises her arms to deflect the blows. A pedestrian marches ahead; a car drives by.

Many similar incidents in China have ended here, with a stream of passersby doing nothing to help strangers in need. But luckily for the woman in this video, two restaurant workers, Yang Yanshuai and Zhang Chengwei, chose to step in and stop the violence.

“At the time I didn’t think about it much, I just felt it’s not right to hit people,” said Yang, according to local media. “That man was beating that women pretty fiercely. You can’t do that, so I came out to stop him.”



Zhang arrived shortly after Yang, pushing the man away and eventually pulling off his shirt. “I look down on this type of man that hits women,” Zhang said. “I wasn’t afraid.”

When police arrived and began their investigation, the woman’s family asked for the case to be scrapped, saying it was a private matter. The police refused, saying the unnamed man had broken the law.

The video, shot in the northern province of Hebei, became national news, against a backdrop of soul-searching over repeated incidences of those in need being ignored. In the most infamous case, a two-year-old girl was hit by a truck and a dozen passersby ignored her as she lay in agony in a busy market.

The lack of legal protections for good samaritans and a string of extortion cases in which people pretended to be injured have contributed to the general reluctance to come to the rescue.



Those who do so are often asked to pay medical bills or are later sued by those they have helped. In a 2013 a woman named Wang Lan helped an injured elderly woman at a bus stop, brought her to hospital and paid the £25 fee for the consultation. The woman later accused Wang of causing the injury and sued for £5,000.

The problem became so severe that a Chinese insurer began offering policies for those who help elderly people in need, covering legal costs of up to 20,000 yuan (£2,350).

Beijing is drafting a good samaritan law to reduce the risks for those who help, ensuring they will not need to cover medical costs. Shanghai enacted a law last year, but it applies only to those who first call emergency services and follow instructions. There is still no sign of national legislation.