At a train station in Hubei I saw a young mother in visibly struggling to carry her child and a suitcase that was obviously heavier than her. One arm trying to cradle her child and the other trying to drag the case up a flight of stairs. I was straddling up the stairs with my own overweight 30kg suitcase when, I thought how miserable it was for her if I was mentally griping about my own case. So, at the midpoint I set my case down and went back down and told her I would help her. I carried her and my luggage up. At the top I set hers down and propped up the carrying handle. I did the same with mine and left to catch my train. On the train reflecting back, I thought wow that was random act of kindness. Also, I thought it was good she wasn't an old person as I would of left her there to struggle as old people cut in front of me all the time in the train station ticketing hall.
It's a good thing she wasn't an old person
Law of Attraction - It amazes me how some people here speak about getting scammed or cheated, getting beat up or attacked, getting robbed or being accused of wrong doing when they were trying to help others.
I am now in my 11th year here in China and none of these things have ever happened to me and I am Not the type of person who just stays in the same usual place in Kunming.
I am constantly travelling and going to out of the way places and spending a lot of time on local buses and running in to all sorts of people, yet have never fallen prey to any of these attacks, scams or robberies.
Could it be possible that some people's bad attitude and negativity attracts all these situations??? Food for thought!
Not trying to challenge you, I am just curious: Do you always get off of the local bus and go help people who you've seen had just fallen down or been injured in an accident in the middle of the road? I mean in the city, not in the mountains where there are no authorities or ATMs nearby.
I do not really understand what the Police or ATMs have to do with this matter but I do help people around me. I recall a young woman in Nanning who tipped over her scooter during the rain and everyone passed her by and did not help her. Like most chinese women she was thin and could not get her heavy bike up so I helped her and she was very grateful.
In my neighborhood everyone knows me because I teach some poor kids for free and many people greet me on the street when they see me and my wife. You reap what you sow - Karma - call it what you will but most people will treat you the same way you treat them.
As for helping people who just had an accident, prudence and experience will teach you that they must play the victim for 30 minutes and wait for the police to come, so they are NOT in need of help.
To quote a famous song, "What Goes Around Comes Around". I often find if I smile at many people many smile back. I find if I scowl and look very unhappy people avoid me. If RAK's make you happy then they are probaly working in numerous ways. Yes we all have bad days and even bad China days.
Funny, the same thing happened to me during my first trip to Chengdu on a rainy night. When I told the story to my girlfriend, she said exactly what AlexKMG wrote: good thing it wasn't an old lady riding that scooter, otherwise you would have had to head to the nearest ATM for monetary compensation.
I think you are getting a bit overboard and passing judgement too quickly with your mention of the law of attraction and the pyramid of Maslow. Volunteering to poor people is fine. I also did and do it, as do tons of other foreigners who especially live in Yunnan. Many of whome have achieved self actualisation, but also share the same opinion as the people here who were talking about a particular situation where they should be thinking twice before helping the wiser ones who happen to be in situations that involved injuries. There have been enough reports about those and I know enough people who have been scammed, for me to avoid helping people who are in this particular type of situation.
again ...somebody that i kinda know. sounds like urban myth.
really they (to the sound of it must be hundreds or thousands.)get scammed thousands of kuais and not a word on blogs, gokunming., asia expat, the beijinger....etc. nothing!
people blog report for days about Burger King but the foreign traffic scam is too much of a taboo. weird.
when i helped it never even felt like the helpee even considered to cash in but again that may just be my boyish good looks. lol
sounds to me like mutant alligators in the NY sewer system
Not every foreigner post online, or would even post on websites for people who understand English. The story might be on a Dutch, French or Swahili website or newspaper, I don't know. I don't care. It just happened. You don't want to believe it, no problem. Go swing an ax on nanping jie.
@HFCAMPO
Some people are just fertilizer magnets. As you've successfully dodged death - I figure you're in the "lucky bastard" category - but there's usually balance in the world - so your good luck means someone else has got to be the fertilizer magnet...assuming one buys into that philosophical crock of speculative fertilizer I just spouted...which then dovetails seamlessly into the opposing "why do miserable...." thread.
OK...so for the China newbies, only perform RAKs if there are no CCTV cameras and olympic dash away before the recipient can get a good ID on you.
I've witnessed this firsthand in the USA during a traffic accident - a doctor and a nurse (maybe not related) stopped by to help the stabilize an accident victim (I hit her with my car on a highway - she was "high") - then quietly vaporized when the ambulance arrived.
I used to big ol hunkin beach towel from my car to keep her warm (shock) - which some <expletive> promptly stole from the scene - adding credence to my philosophy of balance in the universe RAKs vs RA<expletives>s...
