World Journal, News Report, Posted: Oct 19, 2011

A video released last week in China showing a two-year-old girl being run over several times by a van and then ignored by passersby on the street has caused a firestorm among Internet users and the national media.

A report in the World Journal quotes from several witnesses who saw the victim, nicknamed Yueyue, lying in a pool of blood. One, surnamed Lin, said she was “too afraid to help” for fear of causing further injury. The report, which originally appeared in China’s Guangzhou Daily, came in response to growing anger over the apparent indifference of shop owners and others to the incident.

The video from the city of Foshan in Guangdong Province first emerged last week, prompting a wave of angry postings on blog sites across the country. News outlet China.com carried a report several days later that pointed out the number of people – 18 -- who walked by the girl’s body without offering so much as a glance.

According to the World Journal, Lin explained that she had approached a storeowner about the injured girl, asking who the parents were. She says she was largely ignored and that no one took responsibility for the child, adding that she felt regretful after seeing the video.

The girl remains in critical condition, according to doctors, who say she is unable to breathe on her own. Her mother is seen in the video returning to find her daughter’s broken body after another woman, Xianmei Chen, called out for help.

Chen, 58, told Guangzhou Daily that she has been heavily criticized by online users who accused her of helping the girl in the hope of some sort of monetary gain. Chen insists, however, that she simply wanted to help and has promised to donate whatever reward money there may be to help Yueyue’s family cover medical expenses.