Police officers help a collapsed old man stand up on the street in front of a police station in Qinhuai district of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province on April 8. Photo: CFP

Jing Shi (pseudonym) feels confused when it comes to educating her children. The mother from Shanghai wants her 8-year-old son to be kind and helpful, but she cannot put aside worries after multiple news reports on woe coming to good samaritans.

"My son said he would not help elderly people, for fear that he would be extorted like the people on TV reports. Then I asked him what if they really needed help and would not do that to him, he said he would help in that case," Jing told the Global Times, "but I myself have no idea how to judge their intentions."

Jing's worries follow a recent case in Dazhou, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, where three primary school boys were blamed for causing an elderly lady surnamed Jiang to fall down. The old woman demanded compensation, while the children insisted that they actually came to her aid.

The children's families claimed they were forced to pay the woman's medical fees after the incident on June 15, and the woman came to one  family repeatedly to demand money, reported the Chengdu Business Daily.

When the two sides took the matter to the police, the investigation concluded on November 22 that the 74-year-old woman had fallen on her own, and her act constituted extortion. She was given a seven-day disciplinary detention but was let off due to her age. Her son received 10 days in detention and a fine of 500 yuan ($82).

Although the woman's family insisted that she was knocked over by the boys, many still see the case as a turning point in authorities' handling such cases, after several Samaritans were wrongly judged. To radically change the situation, experts propose to strengthen "moral education" to preserve the sense of justice in minors, while improving the legal system to protect people's kind actions.

An end to help

On November 14, two senior high school students in Shantou, South China's Guangdong Province received an apology from the elderly man for "being a dotard" in demanding medical expenses for his injuries, when the two had actually came to his aid after seeing him fall.

Yang Guangyong, headmaster of Hepu High School where the two students studied, told the Global Times that they had turned to him for help after they were wrongly accused. "The incident could have far-reaching influence on the students. Their life values would be distorted if they were wronged," Yang noted.

Several students reached by the Global Times said they would offer help under similar circumstances. "We are taught to do so, but I see more nonchalance in adults. Perhaps they are afraid of being extorted afterwards," Lin Yue, a senior high school student in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Lin may be correct. In a Sina Weibo survey, over 3,400 Net users chose not to help, while only some 730 people said they would give a hand.

The city of Jinhua in Zhejiang Province also saw bystanders forming a circle, without offering help, around a collapsed old man during the rush hour on November 25. The man was then helped to his feet by a police officer, whereas the same situation in 2011 resulted in the death of an old man in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

The most notorious case took place in 2006 when Peng Yu, a Samaritan from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province was found guilty and ordered to pay 45,000 yuan in compensation to an elderly woman he had helped.

Good children

"Some friends suggested paying the money and reconciling. If my son had made a mistake, we would have definitely paid the bill; otherwise, we have no obligation to do that. I was setting an example for my son in protecting our interests," Jiang Zhiyun, father of one of the children in the Dazhou incident, was quoted as saying by the Nanchang-based New Legal Report.

Jiang's move was appreciated by many. Sun Yunxiao, a deputy director of the China Youth and Children Research Center, told the Global Times that children must be protected by society, especially their good qualities such as being kind and helpful.

Many parents told the Global Times that they would not encourage their children to help elderly people unless there are other witnesses around. They also agreed to teach children to make emergency calls if someone needs help. "We can see it as an inoculation to enhance their immunity to the dark side. We need to let them know that there are some bad people but they should also believe that most people are kind," said a mother surnamed Yao.

But an emergency physician surnamed Wang reminded people to think carefully about what they can do to help, and not move people suffering from heart attacks or spinal fractures.

"While we encourage people to help those in need, we should also teach them how to offer help to avoid causing more injuries," said Wang.

Bad society?

Ran Naiyan, a research fellow with the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences, said that authorities must offer better protection to Samaritans by strengthening the legal system in order to encourage more good deeds in the society.

Tan Fang, a professor at South China Normal University in Guangdong Province, believes that the nation is "in serious trouble," after years of unbalanced economic and moral development since the reform and opening-up policy began in 1978.

Lack of mutual trust is one contributor to this "abnormal" society when senior citizens think helpers are actually wrongdoers and passers-by fear of being extorted for helping the elderly, according to Tan.

"The logic in our society is also abnormal: It is only possible that people would offer help if they are responsible for it. But it actually makes no sense at all," Tan said, further pointing out that such twisted logic has become common in judicial departments.

Tan said that some local law enforcement officials failed to stick to the principle of asking the claimants to present the evidence. Instead, the accused are usually assumed to be guilty unless proven otherwise.

"We always say that we should attach the greatest significance to children's education, but it's also critical to pay more attention to adult education, especially for police and prosecutors," Tan said.