In light of the good Samaritan scams that have plagued China in recent years, the Hebei Civilization Office came up with a novel idea in order to discourage the practice and promote the idea of helping others in need.
The local government agency used a mall in Shijiazhuang as the venue for a staged scene to test the reaction of the public to a person in need. They hired a Korean woman to pretend to fall down in the middle of the mall and then lie there in ‘pain’ and see how people react. The first reaction of many people was to walk away, and after a while a crowd gathered and watched but no one helped.
Then, a man and woman came forward and began to assist her. She told them she suffered from low blood sugar so they rushed off to buy her a drink and some medicine from a nearby shop. While they were away a young man ran over and began to help her up and wait with her until the couple returned. When they got back she drank the energy drink they bought and waited for her ‘son’, also an actor.
When her son returned he began accusing the three helpers of causing the accident, saying he would sue them for damages. Luckily, a few members of the watching public stepped forward and vouched for the good Samaritans. That’s when staff from the Civilization Office came out and told everyone that the entire operation was set up and was a test to promote good deeds towards others. Each of the three brave people received a new car as a reward for their efforts.
Source: news.163.com
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Keywords: good Samaritan scams Good Samaritan Test
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someone anyone please say you share my utter 'WHAT?' screwed up face shaking head almost but not quite (because i cant think of a better word) contemptous reaction at this. The thing is, the chinese people are nice people, a multidude and mix just like us, but the Chinese government created this ignorance and pig headedness and lack of good samaritanship and also continue to exacerbate it (possibly unintentionaly) with the some of their policies (for instance, how do expect your citizens to start caring about the environment and keeping it tidy when the ground all around only belongs to the good ole' black and yellow government, and all the 'be good people' adverts just say 'be good people' but dont really attempt to say WHY they should do these things, or even explain with a little humility that our people pumping out obsession and our building big concrete monstrosities everywhere will actually harm the environment, so we are actually quite responsible, so lets not have people look to us and call us bad, lets do something about this, i dont mind admiting we are a big problem maker, but come on guys lets haul together, we can solve this....no, no one will ever say that)..and now they are trying to correct the rubbish they created and people from other countries oint their finger at and shake their head. If you are going to puppet billions of people, think carefully (i couldnt do it right), but if you absolutely must, try and puppet them better. as for the decline in good-samaritanship in the west....well....i dont know...
Mar 11, 2014 17:16 Report Abuse
why do i always feel guily right after i express/vent my annoyance, i feel like i am being unreasonable and my feelings are unfounded, am i?
Mar 12, 2014 12:06 Report Abuse
Fail. How will this encourage people to help in future? And I love how they have the money to buy 3 cars to give away but people still live in dire poverty. Wouldn't surprise me if this turned out to be fake and they were all actors.
Mar 11, 2014 14:43 Report Abuse
The national equivalent of telling a kid, "If you behave, I'll give you a cookie."
Mar 11, 2014 12:37 Report Abuse
Wagon, that is exactly why they used a Korean. And I am willing to bet they sent someone in to help after no one would help.
Mar 10, 2014 22:34 Report Abuse
Flawed experiment is flawed. They shouldn't have used a Korean woman. Who knows if the people who vouched for the Samaritans did it genuinely or out of some sort of nationalist face-saving. Why throw another variable into the experiment?
Mar 10, 2014 20:01 Report Abuse
a misguided initiative, if the intention was to reduce the occurrence of such scams. now, people will be LESS on their guard, salivating over the possibility of winning a car. i'd also not be surprised if the three winners were relatives of that Civilization Office's staff.
Mar 10, 2014 18:46 Report Abuse
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