A few days ago, an American woman stopped her bicycle in front of a car in a Beijing street, blocking the way of the motorist who was driving on the cycle lane. She signaled for the driver to turn onto the lanes for motor vehicles, while smiling to suggest her goodwill.

The driver, however, angrily yelled at the woman and threw the bicycle to the roadside. The foreigner insisted and continued to direct other drivers to return to the right road.

A passer-by took pictures of the event and posted them on the Internet. Later media reports said that the driver might have not violated the traffic rules, as he was coming out of a parking lot and had to follow the bicycle lane before being able to turn on to the motor vehicle lane, which was separated from the bicycle lane by a fence.

But the photographer pointed out that the driver could well have left the cycle lane through an opening in the fence.

Whatever the controversy over the traffic rules, two things are certain the driver treated the foreigner in a rude manner by throwing her bicycle to the roadside, and the foreigner smiled during the argument, helping maintain traffic order by directing cars away from the cycle lane. This is all recorded in the pictures.

The pictures and the reports have triggered an uproar among netizens, most were angry at the driver for "disgracing Chinese people."

An Internet survey about the event indicated that 44.52 per cent of the netizens expressed "respect to the foreign friend," 36.96 per cent said the event was a "reminder for us that our traffic civilization has yet to be improved," 17.26 per cent said they "felt shameful for the driver," while 1.26 per cent thought the foreigner was "meddling in something that is none of her business."

The event could well be taken as an example of the uncivilized side of our social life. This understanding, however, is only a superficial reflection of the matter.

What is more worrying, in my opinion, is the silence most people demonstrate in a similar situation. During the event, nobody voiced their support for the foreign woman, though a number of them later testified to the driver's rude behaviour.

In the survey, 94.58 per cent of the respondents said they admired the foreign woman's courage, yet 90.59 per cent said they would not act as she did.

This is the sad part of our culture. In ancient times, "hating the wicked like enemies" and "drawing one's sword to help the victim while seeing injustice on the road" were once the most treasured traits of Chinese culture.

Over a fairly long period of time since the founding the People's Republic, people were taught from childhood to "dare to fight against all bad people and evils."

Today, however, most people choose to look on in silence when they see a pickpocket taking valuables from a woman's handbag, a ruffian bullying a senior citizen, a muscular man jumping a queue, or a rowdy group walking on a lawn.

One cannot conclude from these facts that Chinese people have lost their sense of justice. Most feel indignant at the aforementioned social evils. And there are always reports of people who "took up cudgels to fight for justice," or people who "meddled into business other than their own," to maintain social order.

However, it has to be admitted that these courageous people account for too small a part of our society.

Our material treasury is building up but our cultural heritage seems to be waning. We are more and more ambitious in pursuing material comforts but seem to be less and less concerned about our duty to social order. This is alarming.

(China Daily 11/01/2006 page4)