My last column, published two weeks ago, lamented the social phenomenon of people being reluctant to offer a helping hand to senior citizens who fall and injure themselves in the street. I called for measures to protect the good Samaritans who go to their aid, as the incidents of people being sued by those they have helped has deterred people from doing such good deeds.

To my great relief, I learned last week that despite the risks there are still people who are not deterred from helping those in need. Last Thursday, the Luohu District Communist Youth League committee, the education bureau of the South China city of Shenzhen and a good deeds award foundation conferred two high school students the title "Outstanding Communist Youth League Member" and awarded them 10,000 yuan each for the timely help they gave an injured woman.

On Jan 1, Zhou Tiancheng and Luo Wei found the 78-year-old woman lying on the ground with pedestrians standing around looking on. They immediately helped the woman up and escorted her to a nearby hospital. By the time the old lady's daughter arrived at the hospital, the two young men had left. However, the grateful daughter kept looking for them and found them two days later.

This good deed and the awards provoked a strong response among netizens. Many wrote to express their admiration for the two boys' courage given that there had been so many cases where old people who had been helped, and their family members, accused the helper of being responsible for the fall and demanded compensation.

One comment said: "Congratulations to both sides (in the case) for they both have fortunately met with good people."

This goes to the heart of the matter: both the helper and the helped need to be kind-hearted.

Many netizens conclude that the ethics of Chinese people have deteriorated and we have become indifferent or numb to our compatriots' sufferings.

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