为什么中国人这么冷漠？ – Why are Chinese people so cold? – English

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On New Year’s Eve, I went to Sanlitun with a bunch of friends for a party. But just as we were happily enjoying the last moments of the year, something happened that suddenly froze our laughter.

Me and my American friend Jack went ahead of our friends, about 100 meters. We were the first to see about 20 or 30 people gathered on the roadside, staring at something. I stood on my tiptoes from the height of my 1m93 to see what was happening, and saw a young girl twitching on the ground, her body trembling, 头随着身体的抖动而不断撞击水泥地面。The people closest to her were only about two meters away, yet noone offered a hand to help her – nobody was moved. Judging by the number of people standing around her, that girl must have been lying on the floor for a few minutes already.

Jack and I started shouting out: “Doctor, Doctor!” But nobody replied, people were all watching in silence. My first job, when I was 15, was as lifeguard in a swimming pool. and I remembered the first aid classes I took then, so I quickly squatted next to her, protected her head, and with Jack’s help turned her body sideways – by then, there was already foam inside her mouth, and she would have choked if she had been lying flat. By then, our other friends had come over, everyone started looking around for a doctor, and someone also called 110.

这位姑娘的痉挛完全控制不住，这使我非常紧张。我注意到她右眼上有一个巨大的、新鲜的肿包。我因此猜测她应该是走路时不慎摔倒，在冰冷的水泥地上撞伤了头而引发了抽搐。过了大概五分钟，我的朋友汤姆带着一位中国医生跑回现场。因为堵车，救护车在30多分钟后才到达，在这位中国医生的陪同下，姑娘在昏迷的状态中被送往医院。（The doctor contacted us a few days later, and said the girl was back to normal state; there should be no lasting effects on her.)

As my friends slowly calmed me down, my mind was full of anxious, sad, and desperate ideas. First of all, based on what we could see, before we arrived on the scene, nobody took the initiative to call 110, and noone raised a hand to help the girl. 如果他们不知道怎么救护的话，还是可以蹲下，尽量与她说话，用自己的手或外衣来保护姑娘脆弱的头部。再者，在我与杰克到场的时候，还有旁观者用手机拍她抽搐的状态。在我蹲下帮她的时候，还有一位旁观者开始用开着闪光灯的手机来拍我们，当时我恨不得立马抢过他的手机扔在路上。最后，当姑娘稍微恢复了平静但救护车还没来的时候，我们试着打车但却被三个司机冷漠地拒载。我与杰克在路边支撑着一个昏迷着的、处于生命危险中的女孩，而路过的司机却一个一个地开走了。终于有一辆出租车愿意送她到医院，但那时我们已经听到了救护车的鸣笛声，就决定再等一等救护车。

This affair couldn’t help but remind me of a scene in Lu Xun’s “Mr Fujino”. When he was an exchange student in Japan, Lu Xun watched a film in class with his classmates, which shows the indifference of Chinese people at the time. While some of their compatriots are beheaded by the Japanese, other Chinese people just act like innocent bystanders. （“第二年添教霉菌学，细菌的形状是全用电影来显示的，一段落已完而还没有到下课的时候，便影几片时事的片子，自然都是日本战胜俄国的情形。但偏有中国人夹在里边：给俄国人做侦探，被日本军捕获，要枪毙了，围着看的也是一群中国人；在讲堂里的还有一个我。”）。This was like a sting to Lu Xun: How could these Chinese people be so cold, and feel so little? 为什么不能团结，在同胞遇到威胁时愿意互助？

Whether it’s in Beijing, New York, or any other major metropolis, I think that in today’s cities, people have to take care of each other – there’s too many risks and dangers in the city. If we’re not willing to help each other, the city will become an empty cold place, where you can never feel safe.

当时袖手旁观的人们也许以为他们对此没有义务，但我，相信还有其他许许多多中国人，都不以为然。We must accept our responsibility to help. The sudden fit that this girl suffer could not have been expected, it could happen to anyone. 设身处地地想象一下：当一个人一边发短信，一边走路时，可能突然在冰上滑倒，结果头撞到地上，无助地在路边颤抖，头不断地碰击水泥地面。If this happened to me or one of my friends, I hope the people around us would lend us a hand, and try to help. But at the scene on the night before, not only were people not lending a hand, they were casually taking pictures, this I really can’t understand.

After this thing happened, 我的很多中国朋友都试图用“南京彭宇案”来解释旁观者的做法。彭宇案指的是2006年在南京发生的一桩很有争议性的法院判决。南京市民彭宇扶起了一位跌倒的老太太，并陪她前往医院检查，检查结果表明这位叫徐寿兰的老太太股骨头骨折，需要进行人造股骨头置换手术。徐寿兰随即说是彭宇撞了他，并向彭宇索赔医疗费。彭宇认为自己是助人为乐，不是肇事者，因此拒绝了老人的要求。在各种调解失败后，徐老太决定提起诉讼。2007年9月5日，法官作出一审判决，称“如果被告是做好事，根据社会情理，在老太太的家人到达后，其完全可以说明事实经过并让老太太的家人将她送到医院，然后自行离开。但彭宇未作此等选择，他的行为显然与情理相悖。”

我的很多中国朋友都告诉我，在中国人的眼里，彭宇案，开创了一个新的法律先例：在陌生人遇到困难时，不应该介入帮忙，否则你的“行为显然与情理相悖”。2011年佛山2岁女童小悦悦在先后被两辆车碾压后，有18个行人路过而无动于衷，直到一位捡垃圾的阿姨向她伸出援手。当时有媒体分析此事也是受到了彭宇案的影响。

可是，在我眼里这个判决不可能是造成此现象的全部原因；南京法官的判决结果恰恰可以证明人们对于冷漠已经是习以为常的，要不然他不会觉得彭宇的行为与“情理相悖”。这个判决当然有严重的问题，但不能全部怪它。

南京法官开创的先例真的足以让人们不再愿意帮助其他人吗？我不以为然。也许彭宇案的先例会让人因为害怕法律惩罚而逃避道德责任，不过，这种视而不见的行为在我们内心的道德法庭真的能够逃避审判吗？按照中国儒家思想的性善论，这种现象才是真正与中国传统道德文化“相悖”的。

在我看来，我们对其他人道德上的义务远远高于法律所规定的责任。在西方国家，我们习惯用元旦前夜来许下新年的愿望。虽然我们一般不愿透露我们的新年愿望，但我估计你们都能猜到我的。

潘亚当(Adam Century)来自纽约，目前作为美国富布赖特(Fulbright)奖学金学员在北京生活。

Source : My1510 07 January 2013