STREET HEROES: Bai Baohai (right) and Zheng Bingqiang (left) meet with Zhang Xiqiang, one of the five people whom they rescued from a river in Huanghua, Hebei Province, on February 28 (XINHUA)

According to a recent survey jointly conducted by the Beijing-based Renmin University of China, the Capital University of Economics and Business and the Central University of Finance and Economics, more than 60 percent of respondents thought that a helping hand should be extended to an elderly person in need. However, more than 84 percent of respondents believed it was too risky to offer help, because of the number of would-be-helpers who had previously been blackmailed.

Among those surveyed, only 8 percent said there was still a strong bond of trust between people.

In September, the Ministry of Health issued guidelines on how the public should offer assistance in cases where senior citizens have fallen down, been knocked down by vehicles or had some other sort of accident.

The guidelines said good Samaritans should try to determine the cause of the accident they are responding to, evaluate the person's physical conditions, and plan an appropriate response rather than rushing to help.

The ministry insists the guidelines have nothing to do with morality and ethics but explain how to deliver assistance in an effective and proper way.

Tan Ankui, an associate professor at Sun Yat-sen University, said that it is unreasonable to ask people to think about how they intend to protect themselves before they rush to the aid of others.

"It should only take a few seconds for a person to decide to rescue victims who urgently need help after a serious accident," Tan said, adding that those who are found to have made false accusations against an innocent person should be severely punished in accordance with the law.

Zhan Meibai, an associate professor at the Guangzhou-based Jinan University, said those who act bravely for a just cause usually receive praise and encouragement from the public.

"Controversy exists only in a small number of cases," Zhan said. "Anybody who finds people lying injured on the ground should call the police for help. Or if they want to rescue someone, they can also find witnesses and ask them to leave their phone numbers. The witnesses' testimony may later prove useful in court."

The media has also come under scrutiny for over reporting the tiny number of cases where good Samaritans have been wrongfully penalized. The coverage given to these cases and not the many more cases where rescuers have been praised and rewarded has been blamed for playing a role in reducing the public's willingness to help.

Exemplary deeds

Tan Fang, a professor at the Guangzhou-based South China Normal University, said the media should pay more attention to the deeds of good Samaritans to make the public more aware of the importance of helping those who are in need.

In fact, incidents where people selflessly help each other happen every day.

On October 19, a 20-month-old boy was knocked down by a reversing car at a market in Foshan, the same city where Wang Yue was hit. In the boy's case, however, a group of passers-by immediately stepped in to help and other witnesses helped stop the offending vehicle.

On October 18, a 32-year-old woman named Qin Guoying, who had also been hit twice by vehicles, was rescued by passers-by in Guangzhou's Huadu District

On the same day, a 31-year-old man, Niu Zuotao, died in Guangzhou while trying to save a drowning woman. The city government awarded him the title of hero.

SHARED HAPPINESS: Wu Juping, who was named the "most beautiful mother in China," and Niu Niu, the girl Wu saved with her two hands in July, in hospital in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, on August 25 (HUANG ZONGZHI)

In July, a two-year-old girl who fell from her 10th-floor home in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province, was miraculously saved by a young woman who happened to be walking by. The woman, Wu Juping, became a celebrity and was named the "most beautiful mother in China."

Also in July, a 20-year-old girl named Yu Shuhua became an Internet phenomenon in China for giving her "first kiss" to a drowning elderly man. It was reported that she was on her way back from work when she saw the man being rescued from a river. Having just graduated from a nursing college in Beijing, Yu cleared the man's airways, knelt down and immediately gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and performed cardiac massage. After the news spread nationwide, many netizens saluted Yu and named her the "most beautiful girl in China."

"Those who risk themselves to save other people should be highly praised, rewarded and protected to encourage more people to do good deeds," Tan said.

Tan set up a foundation in March to deal with the risks of helping the elderly in difficult situations. It provides both financial and legal aid to those who get into trouble for helping the elderly.

"Efforts should be made to lift the morality of the whole of society and the conscience of everyone and to prevent scandals involving apathy toward people in need from happening again," said Wang, the Guangdong Provincial Party chief.