“The most important thing for Chinese people right now is making money and pursuing their own interests,” said Jin Liang, deputy director of the Shandong Institute of Behavioral Science in eastern China. “Our education system doesn’t teach ethics. Environment is very important in determining people’s behavior, and right now Chinese culture is sick.”
Others have argued that the problem is largely a legal one. They point to a series of cases in which Chinese Good Samaritans have helped strangers only to be later blamed and sued.
The most famous such case occurred in Nanjing in 2007, when a young man named Peng Yu was sued after he escorted an elderly woman to the hospital after she had fallen and broken her leg. The court ordered Peng Yu to pay 40% of the woman’s medical bills, explaining that “according to common sense” he wouldn’t have helped her if he weren’t in some way responsible for her fall.
via Toddler’s Death Stirs Ire in China – WSJ.com.
Humanity seems to vary greatly between countries …. and sometimes within countries. I myself can only recall experiencing kindness when I lived in Africa, but at the same time would read news stories like the Cape Town woman whose car overturned on a country road, leaving her trapped inside with a broken leg and pelvis. Passersby dragged her free of the car before raping her and making off with her handbag.
If there was some way of measuring humanity in a country, on a scale of 1 to 10, I am sure that you would find a strong correlation between humanity, stability and economic prosperity.
Scandinavian countries would probably rank highest on such a scale. Interesting that, before introduction of a religion (Christianity) which emphasizes humanity toward your fellow man, their Viking ancestors would have ranked near the bottom. Perhaps there is hope for all of us.