hero

AMAZING VIDEO: This is How You Catch a Falling Baby [UPDATED]

Posted: 05/23/2014 7:45 am

falling baby zhongshan guangdong rain hero brother catch

[This story has been updated with corrections and additional details added at the end]

Otherwise known as the GIF we’ve been waiting for all year long, a Zhongshan man has performed the incredible feat of catching a falling child from a two-story apartment. In the pouring rain. With his bare hands. Like they were giving them away for free.

Captured in its entirety by a web monitor (video here), the scene took place at Chaonan Road, Xiaolan County, Zhongshan, Guangdong Province at 12:14pm on May 18. A three year-old child ~~one year-old baby~~ was left alone at a second-floor apartment when he climbed up to the window to look for his mother. He could be heard calling for her and started to crawl outside. That’s when it accidentally fell from the window.

Mr Li was across the street at the time waiting for the rain to stop when he suddenly saw the child in danger. Instead of staying dry like a normal citizen, Mr Li ran out in the middle of traffic. Other people on the street saw as well, and lay down cardboard boxes and a black cushion in an attempt to soften the fall.

Dubbed “Brother Catch” by the Chinese press, Mr Li shows us how he got his new name:

That’s extraordinary. The stilted stutter of the wilting shuffle of the two would-be baby catchers that follow the trajectory of the falling child is contrasted by hero Mr Li’s iron-clad, unwavering commitment. Here he is moments before the fall:

We don’t want to take anything away from the shirtless man accompanying Mr Li to his right, but only one of them was going to catch the kid, and it wasn’t going to be the guy flinching from the rain. No, our hero Mr Li is the guy standing still as a statue, arms fully extended, intently focused upon the target, raindrops spattering upon his eyeballs, showing all of us where the calm lies in the middle of the storm.

We don’t know what Mr Li called out right at that moment, but if he told me to jump, I would, even if I was standing on the ground.

Mr Li, thank you. We need more heroes like you. GIFs, too.

Here’s a video of the incident:

UPDATE 12:35pm May 23, 2014

Our hero, “Brother Catch” has been identified as Li Xianwen, a 50 years-old worker at an electric supply company. Li had been out with his family for lunch when he came across the three year-old child dangling precariously from the second floor window.

The mother is said to have arrived at the scene just at that precise moment. She went upstairs to the apartment, but by then the child had already fallen.

The child was taken to the hospital, but an examination showed he had not sustained any injuries.

Like all cool people, Li left the party early, not telling anyone at the scene. It was only later that his identity was discovered. Li also suffered no injuries in the incident, and was very modest about being the courageous hero that he is. Li said,

I just did what anyone else would have done…It’s very fortunate I caught him. If I didn’t, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

Hero of Dangling Guangzhou Girl Identified

Photos: Weibo screencaps of GIFs

Tagged: falling babiesgifsheroXiaolan DistrictZhongshan

Heroes of Guangzhou Knife Attack: Migrant with Rod, Officials with Guns [UPDATED]

Posted: 05/8/2014 6:22 pm

knife attack suspect shan hero guangzhou railway station

Hero Shan is shown in the middle, and the attacker depicted at left. The armed officials have not shown up yet.

When calamity and chaos strike, it is the heroes that step forward and distinguish themselves by their actions. It is in the nature of a hero to act because the one defining characteristic they all share is that a hero serves.

On the morning of May 6, a man began to indiscriminately attack passengers leaving the Guangzhou Railway Station with a long bladed knife, causing non life-threatening injuries to six people before being shot and detained by police. And it’s because of heroes like Shan that the situation didn’t get any worse.

READ: Suspect Acted Alone in Knife Attack at Guangzhou Railway Station

Mr Shan is a 42 year-old migrant all the way from Heilongjiang Province. After arriving in Guangzhou at 11am, he unexpectedly became caught up in the knifing incident as he was leaving the plaza.

Shan was very fortunate when the backpack he was wearing helped deflect some of the slashes made at him by the knife-wielding attacker, and as a result only suffered minor injuries.

Shan told his story to the Southern Metropolis Daily. ”I picked up a wooden rod that had been left on the ground by other passengers to confront the attacker,” he said. “More people would have been stabbed if I hadn’t done that, because the attacker stabbed everyone he met like crazy.”

Shan also added, “When the attacker moved, I also moved to block him so that he couldn’t hurt others.”

READ: Eyewitness Accounts Depict Horrors of
Guangzhou Railway Station Attack

As reported by China Daily, Shan said he used the rod to knock away the suspect’s knife before police officers rushed in. This statement contradicts earlier published reports, and if true, signifies that the police had shot an unarmed man.

But that is but one half of the heroic coin that pays for the safety of our society. We also owe a debt of gratitude to the officials that we see in photographs getting the job done.

In the wake of the Guangzhou Railway Station knife attack, Chinese officials got personally involved with the beefing of security at train stations across the country. Reported as having made personal tours of inspection are Fu Zhenghua, vice-minister of the Ministry of Public Security, who visited Beijing Railway Station; vice-minister Liu Yanping, who visited several railway stations in Shanghai; and Huang Baowei, head of the Zhengzhou public security bureau, who made an inspection of rural areas of the city.

It’s always great to have officials making sure that security is tight, but those wanting an extra layer of security may sleep better knowing that these officials are described as making these inspections while “armed“. You know that these guys have all got your back when they’re packing heat.

Meanwhile, the the identity of the sole suspect in this attack has still not yet been revealed to the public. As well, the SCMP confirms an early report that said the suspect loitered at the Guangzhou Railway Station for hours before making the attack as citing a security video that features the suspect in it.

UPDATE May 9, 2014: Our hero gets the recognition he deserves.

Yesterday, Shan Lianbo and Wang Fengwu were both recognized by the city for their heroic deeds in helping police confront the attacker that put six people in hospital. Both men were awarded a “Guangzhou Samaritan Certificate” as well as a RMB 5,000 cash reward.

Photo: Weibo (1)

Tagged: Guangzhou station knife attackGuangzhou train stationgunsheroKnife AttackOfficialsterrorismTraintrain station

Hero Saves Family of Three From Fire, Arsonist Is Next-Door Neighbor

Posted: 04/22/2014 7:39 pm

One neighbor rushes to save a trapped family of three from a fire, while another neighbor is accused of deliberately starting the fire due to a long-standing grievance–while it may sound fantastical, in this instance, it actually happened.

Hero Zhu Jun, 42, works at the Yichun Uniform Factory on Jinlong Road in Sangyuan, Dongguan. Originally from Yulin, Guangxi, Zhu had just finished an overtime shift at midnight and was going back to his fifth floor dormitory room. But Zhu didn’t go back, not when he heard cries for help. Zhu didn’t stand and stare like the crowd that had already formed to gawk at the convenience store below that was billowing smoke.

Instead, Zhu went down to the Xiyangyang convenience store and looked around. He found a tank of compressed gas with a hose attached to it that was spouting flames, and gets rid of it. Zhu tried to open the only door to the store, but it wouldn’t open. Zhu was about to return to the dormitory when he again heard people crying out for help in the back.

When Zhu saw a family of three trapped inside the burning building by an iron-wrought anti-burglar cage, Zhu did the thing that heroes do: they serve. Zhu found an iron bar of his own, and fighting fire with fire, he used it to repeatedly smash the iron cage. For seven to eight minutes, Zhu continued to smash the cage until it finally broke allowing the family to escape.

The mother and 12 year-old child escaped without injury, but father Luo Yongping sustained burns to 40% of his body. The family lost a total net worth of RMB 120,000 in the blaze, including RMB 30,000 in cash.

Zhu attributes his virtuous behavior to the daily morning exercises at the factory that advocate good behavior, of which include the use of Buddhist scriptures. Zhu himself spoke like a true hero that we can all admire by humbly saying,

“I just did the bare minimum of what is expected for a human being.”

Sadly, this exemplar of the human spirit is contrasted by the other example in this story.

The suspected arson is surnamed Hu, 59, who operates the phone kiosk located next door to the convenience store. The tank of compressed gas that Zhu found when first arriving upon the scene? Hu ran a hose underneath the door of the convenience store and pumped in gas that he would ignite. When Luo had first discovered the fire from inside, his attempts to open the only door to the store were stopped by Hu who stood upon it, not allowing anyone inside to leave.

Hu has harbored a long-standing grudge with the Luo family. Hu blamed them for ratting him out to the inspection agency that confiscated his five illegally-operated computers. So, while his phone kiosk would share the same retail space with the convenience store, Hu decided to have his revenge by setting fire to their store.

The heroism of Zhu Jun is great. It’s just too bad it’s not enough to dispel the maliciousness of neighbors like Hu.

Photo: Timedg, Nandu

Tagged: bystander effectFiregrievancesherorevenge

Knife Attack at Shenzhen North Station Watched by Crowd of Bystanders

Posted: 04/15/2014 11:14 am

[This article contains content and images that some readers may find unsettling or offensive]

“Knife attack at train station” isn’t something you’d think you’d be hearing again so soon especially with a public frayed with anxiety, and yet it did so recently at Shenzhen North Railway Station.

At around 8am on April 13, a woman walking into Entrance A of Shenzhen North Railway Station was stabbed in the abdomen by a man wielding a knife, who would later turn the blade upon himself, Nandu reported. Named Zhang, the man was despondent that the victim, his wife, was transferring to Shanghai to work for two months, said a source belonging to the woman’s family. The woman had been working at Foxconn and was the sole breadwinner for the family that includes their seven year-old son.

In the wake of the deadly knife attacks in Kunming that killed 33 people, we’ve seen a focus on strengthening homeland security in China. The beginning of April saw an increased police presence at Yinhe Park that was described as “the most heavily-guarded Qingming Festival in history. Furthermore, public security in nearby Guangzhou is planned to be strengthened next month with increased patrols by armed police.

However, one the heroes that would save the victim from further injury, Ma Xingwang, 40, described a situation that was not reflective of this renewed vigor for security:

After he got up, he picked up his knife to chase after me. We ran several circles around the plaza. As he wasn’t able to catch me, he finally stopped and just glared at me, so I just glared back at him.

That sounds pretty absurd, but let’s add the additional details of this story as told by Ma in successive order by which they are “mind-blowing”:

1. This occurred at Shenzhen North Railway Station during rush hour
2. The plaza is packed full of people
3. Not one person helped Ma during this time
4. Station security guards stood to the side and watched as they arrived *
5. The entire attack lasted for ten minutes before Ma’s brother was able to trip the attacker from behind, and finally subdue him

Yes, ten minutes. Ten minutes. There was no police response or help from the dozens of people watching for ten whole minutes. Besides missing his train, Ma and his brother could have done several other things for ten minutes besides being chased by a violent attacker armed with a knife: boil two eggs, have a quick nap, order their meal from KFC with a line of ten people waiting behind them, anything at all.

If we are critical at the inaction of others, it remains that bystanders affect the ultimate outcome: they can all attest to the heroism of the Ma brothers because they watched it all happen.

* From the report:

One security guard stated that he rushed to the plaza when he heard a report that people were fighting during his patrol at around 8am. The security guard stated that there were many spectators at the scene, but no one was willing to get too close.

Photos: Shanghai Online, iFeng, Huagu

Tagged: BystanderDomestic Violenceheroknife attackstrain station

Guangzhou Protest Atop Traffic Sign Quelled by Mysterious Man

Posted: 04/10/2014 4:12 pm

If you were stuck in traffic in around the Yuexiu District of Guangzhou yesterday, then you should know there’s a perfectly good reason for it: someone has a grievance with their village council, and you need to be inconvenienced because of it.

On the morning of April 9 at around 8am, a man later identified as Mr Liang climbed up a traffic sign at Xiaobei Road and North Military Drill Road. Dressed in red and wearing a hat, the man was brandishing a metal rod and a drink, as though he had planned to be up there for a long time.

Whenever police or firefighters would draw near, Liang would brandish his metal rod to force his back, reported Nandu. Liang’s actions had drawn a lot of attention and caused a huge backup of traffic in the area, especially with ongoing construction in the area.

It was finally at around 11:14am when an unidentified man dressed in blue managed to get past the police cordon and climb up the traffic sign to join Liang. Perhaps a soldier out of uniform or Jack Reacher on his Asia tour, the unidentified man in blue was able to quickly and easily subdue and disarm Liang.

Pictures show a hand-to-hand confrontation worthy of any action movie climax:

After being subdued by the man in blue, firefighters would use a cherry picker to lower the two men down to the ground.

The man in red was immediately arrested and identified as Mr Liang, 41, from Huadu, Guangzhou. His family is said to have an unresolved grievance with his local village committee, and has taken his protest to the provincial capital. Liang had previously inconvenienced commuters by climbing signs and protesting at Dongfeng Road and Jiangwan Daqiao.

After performing his civic duty, the mysterious man in blue disappeared as swiftly as he appeared, not even leaving behind his name, possibly to reappear wherever protesters may cause face-losing incidents.

Photos: Nandu

Tagged: heroPoliceProtestTraffic Jams

Hero climbs down six-story building on bedsheet to save child dangling by head

Posted: 04/8/2014 5:47 pm

Heroism has a name in China, and that name is “Brother Prop Up”.

It was around 10am on April 5, as reported by Nandu. Li Jian was new to Dongguan, and while walking down Kuangjiangtousan street in Xiabian village, Liaobu county, Li noticed something out of the ordinary: a five year-old girl with her head stuck in the bars of a anti-burglar cage hanging from a sixth floor apartment. The girl had somehow slipped through the cracks of the anti-burglar, but her head did not, saving her from a fall.

After furiously pounding on the door to the apartment but no receiving any response, Li would head up to the roof. There with the help of a neighbor named Sun Qiya, a group of people would knot three bed sheets together in order to assemble a make-shift rope. Holding onto one end of it, they lowered Li down.

Embracing his destiny, Li stepped over the edge and climbed down to the fifth floor; there, he supported himself by standing upon the anti-burglar bars of the fifth floor apartment that were fortunately there. While using one arm to support himself, Li would use his other arm to “prop up” the child so as to prevent any further injury by hanging from her neck. Li would support the girl for a full ten minutes before rescue workers arrived to break down the door of the fifth floor apartment and pry open the anti-burglar bars. At approximately 10:15am, the girl was finally saved.

While Li is new to Dongguan, the sight of a child hanging by their head from a anti-burglar bar may be construed as a familiar sight to long-time residents in Dongguan. On March 31 of last year, a three year-old boy was found hanging by his head from a third floor anti-burglar cage in Huangjiang District, Dongguan while another similar case happened on June 2012 in Tianhe District in Guangzhou.

It’s fortunate that we have come to know the proper name to call such a hero as Li Jian; this is because it’s the same name used in previous media stories to call the heroes who bravely and selflessly helped save these other children helplessly dangling by their heads: “Brother Prop Up”.

Wherever there are children left home alone with anti-burglar devices that are inadequate to trap them inside, these are these heroes that will “prop up” these little victims whenever they fall through the cracks.

Li Jian has been commended by the local police to receive a medal for bravery.

Photo: Nandu

Tagged: brother prop-upBurglaryChildrenheroorganized crime

A 12-year old Shenzhen girl donates seven organs upon her death, becoming a hero

Posted: 02/4/2013 2:04 pm

A 12-year-old Shenzhen girl became a bit of a hero last month after she decided to donate seven of her organs after a cerebral hemorrhage on January 29 which eventually caused her death, the Shenzhen Daily reports.

Ye’s parents filling out the forms, courtesy of Shenzhen Evening News.

As soon as Ye Mengyuan suffered the hemorrhage on the 26th, her parents immediately filled out the application forms for organ donation, according to Shenzhen Red Cross.

The paper has more:

During emergency treatment Jan. 28, Ye’s health deteriorated very quickly. She had another hemorrhage in her brain, suffered diabetes insipidus and battled with unstable blood pressure. Doctors tried to sustain Ye’s life so her grandparents could see her one final time, but Ye died on the night of Jan. 29.

Ye’s remains were donated to the Remains Receiving Center of Shenzhen Red Cross.

Four of the organs have already been successfully transplanted. Her liver, pancreas, small intestines and spleen were successfully transplanted to a 49-year-old man who suffers from liver disease and diabetes. Her kidneys are to be given to two patients with uremia and her corneas will be donated to patients with eye diseases.

China is currently engaged in a drive to encourage organ donation. Local legislatures in Jiangxi Province and Tianjin became the latest to enact The Human Body Donation Regulation at their local assemblies last month, China.org reports. This allows relatives of a deceased person to decide whether to donate their organs.

Meanwhile, China has moved to abolish the harvesting of the organs of executed prisoners. It seems they want their organs to come from heroes rather than villains.

Tagged: cerebral hemorrhageheroOrgan DonationShenzhen Red CrossYe Mengyuan

The Nanfang / Blog

AMAZING VIDEO: This is How You Catch a Falling Baby [UPDATED]

Heroes of Guangzhou Knife Attack: Migrant with Rod, Officials with Guns [UPDATED]

Hero Saves Family of Three From Fire, Arsonist Is Next-Door Neighbor

Knife Attack at Shenzhen North Station Watched by Crowd of Bystanders

Guangzhou Protest Atop Traffic Sign Quelled by Mysterious Man

Hero climbs down six-story building on bedsheet to save child dangling by head

A 12-year old Shenzhen girl donates seven organs upon her death, becoming a hero

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