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Prison in Case of Toddler’s Death That Transfixed Nation
A man walks around Yue Yue seconds after she had been run over by a mini-van. (Screenshot NTD Television)
Last October a 2-year old’s death became a national trauma for China that sparked a firestorm of self-criticism. That death was given a sort of closure Thursday, as a Chinese court sentenced one of the drivers who ran over the child to three years in prison, according to state-run media.
On Oct. 13, 2011, a child called Yue Yue had wandered into the alley behind her parent’s hardware store in Foshan City in southern China’s Guangdong Province. A van knocked her down and drove over her with both front and back wheels. In the next several minutes, 18 people passed by the injured child without doing anything to help her, including a pickup truck that also ran over the prostrate Yue Yue.
Finally, a trash scavenger picked up Yue Yue, moved her out of the road, and then cried for help until Yue Yue’s mother came running. The child died eight days later.
Surveillance video of the incident went viral, and expressions of grief and outrage filled the Chinese Internet, with 4 million microblog posts in less than a week. Bloggers discussed how the treatment of the 2-year-old reflected a drastic decline in China’s morality.
“After watching the video, I was overcome by a strong sense of national shame and inferiority. With 18 people consecutively ignoring the wounded girl, even if more than 18 ‘Heavenly Palace’ spacecrafts were launched, it would not have repaired this profound shame,” wrote actor Yuan Hong on his microblog, as reported previously by The Epoch Times.
“What was crushed was not only a little girl, but the conscience of today’s society,” wrote a blogger.
“What made us so indifferent?” wrote the blogger Ning-Hao. “The little Yue Yue incident again shows the loss of the morality of our citizens. Every person of conscience cannot help thinking: what is the root of these problems?
A widely reposted comment by someone named Lin, who identified himself as a professor of history at Harbin Normal University, said the trash scavenger was the one who helped Yue Yue precisely because of her lack of education: she hadn’t studied communist theory, hadn’t accepted communist propaganda, and so hadn’t had her view of the world transformed.
“The result is that she has kept her basic conscience,” wrote Lin.
One specific cause advanced for ignoring Yue Yue involved the likelihood that people were trying to protect themselves.
There have been several cases in recent years in China where injured people have sued those who rescued them.
There have been several cases in recent years in China where injured people have sued those who rescued them. Some commentators said the bystanders did not help the child out of fear of litigation.
The driver, Hu Jun, was convicted of involuntary homicide in the People’s Court of the Nanhai District in Foshan City, the Chinese regime mouthpiece Xinhua reported.
The court said that Hu got a “lenient sentence” of three years because he gave himself up to police and paid for some of the girl’s medical expenses. His trial began in May.
When the accident occurred, Hu thought that he had hit something with his vehicle but did not stop to check what it was, Xinhua said.
The sentencing of Hu closes the books on the criminal case related to Yue Yue—the other driver has not been charged. The larger questions raised by little Yue Yue’s death still haunt China today.
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2012-09-06 22:53:52
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