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Subscribe to RSSChinese police have arrested a young couple who buried an old woman alive in the mistaken belief she was dead after their car hit the 68-year-old, according to a report.
The couple, who had been at an all-night karaoke session, hit the woman while driving at night in the eastern province of Zhejiang last month, the official China Daily newspaper said.
"A witness said he heard someone crying and saw an elderly woman lying on the ground near (the car)," it cited a police officer as saying. "A man and a woman got out and put the elderly woman in the car, saying they would send her to hospital."
But, worried about being arrested for drunk driving and causing the accident and believing she was no longer alive, they buried her near the side of the road, the report added.
However, when police later found the woman's body they discovered she had still been alive when she was buried, and had then suffocated to death, the paper said.
"It's certain the woman was not dead when buried," a public security bureau official told China Daily on Wednesday. "Legal medical experts detected particles identical to those in the surrounding soil in her lungs, which indicates she was still breathing."
However he added police were still investigating the circumstances of the case. "Preliminary judgment of the cause of death is brain injury by the impact from the car and asphyxia," he said.
The story has been widely discussed on China's popular Twitter-like service Weibo, where it has ignited uproar for what some called the immorality of modern Chinese society.
Read more on China from NBC News in Behind the Wall
"Such things show that our society really has huge problems it is not facing," wrote one user.
"People of China, how have you come to this?" wrote another.
Boy, 3, rides toy motorcycle through China city, trying to find his mom
China's economic boom and the growing disparity between the rich and poor have made changing social values a contentious topic, with some lamenting what they see as materialism and a get-rich-quick attitude replacing public morals.
China state TV host's rant: 'Clean out foreign trash'
Last year, graphic video footage of a two-year-old child run over by a van and ignored by passersby in southern China sparked similar anger.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Just goes to show that people all over the world are cold and callous. I feel our species is doomed.
I would say "Only in China", but I feel you are correct. BUT there is hope. When God starts over and resets this planet He (or She), will make dogs the primary species. It should be a lot better world then.
There was a post from a prior "Only in China" incident from a Chinese national stating that we shouldn't judge Chinese as such because of a few simple-minded people...
However, after seeing things such as a video of a toddler getting hit and ran over TWICE while passer-bys stepped over her, reading about articles of people selling their organs to buy iPads, and recently reading an article about intensive test cramming via intravenous supplements.... I'd have to say that such things truly ARE "the immorality of modern Chinese society" as a majority, not a minority!!!
really as i recall thing like this happen in US too. few years back a guy was dead on NYC street, no one help. then there are incidents of hit and run all over US. our crime rate is MUCH MUCH higher than china, drugs abuse, gangister, KKK, etc etc etc. so are we judging the ALL american base on these facts now?
I couldn't agree with you more. DOOMED!
How about all the contaminated food, pet food, medical supplies, etc. that are sent out of China by business people that are driven by profits? These things are done purposefully, not on accident. If I had my way, we wouldn't import anything from there.
"our crime rate is MUCH MUCH higher than china, drugs abuse, gangister, KKK, etc etc etc. so are we judging the ALL american base on these facts now?"
Facts? Don't think so.
1. Where did you get your crime statistics because I think you made them up based on your thinking that we have "drugs abuse, gangister, KKK, etc etc etc"
2. China (and every country) has drugs abuse, gangister, KKK (ie hate groups), etc etc etc
3. Getting reliable crime statistics out of China is virtually impossible so there is no way for you to know we have a "much much higher" crime rate.
ChrisWanker: Such a high and mighty attitude whilst you step over another homeless human being on your way to lunch...
s002wjh
Dont forget the black panther party putting bounties on people heads... unless you are racist just mentioning the "KKK".. lol what a joke.
I always get a kick out of self-righetous americans pointing fingers at other nations and pretending like we arent just like them (if not worse) in so many ways.
it sounds like their modern people are just like our modern people - selfish and indifferent, greedy and unapologetic.
Let's not forget the ground up dead babies for medical purposes.
Ah the Chinese...
Chris isn't kidding - the city folk are pretty cold me-first machines.
TampaBob - exactly what are you doing to help the homeless? Chris has a valid point. Have you seen the video of the Chinese toddler being run over and people literally stepping over her as she lay bleeding on the ground? You would have to be one evil person not to be affected by it. The homeless in this country have not been run over and aren't injured. While many are people with mental issues that would have been in institutions a few decades ago, many are also alcoholics and drug addicts who don't want to do anything to help themselves.
When there is over a billion of you, I guess each life is quite cheap
Here in the U.S. we would call that Republican family values.
Exactly, a few bad apples doesn't make China a bad place. They do not allow the production of pornography. They have a lower teen pregnancy rate. Lower murder rate.
China is just as good as America. I might like to try living there. I hazard a guess that I might like it more than the country I was born into.
Get real Geoffrey.
Sounds like china is copying the good ole USA! Why not, they have our jobs. Too bad that there is no cure for greed!
How so? If it was the US they would've shot her first.
As far as copying the US, I would have to agree, in a weird way. The US has arrived at this point in our history, with all its accomplishments, in an evolutionary fashion: we had all these natural resources right in the middle of the Industrial Revolution with a national ethic grounded in the Age of Reason. The success China perceives in us did not come overnight and it did not come without both regulation and enforcement of regulation, spurred by popular support. China has divorced the phenomenon of success from regulation, ethics, reason, all the other aspects of our society that make it great, and pursued pure capitalism, with an overlay of dictatorship. What a nightmare. And we can't compare crime statistics because the Chinese government does not keep reliable info, nor does it reveal what it does know to anyone else.
Horrible. And the idiot couple would have been much better off if they had taken her to the hospital too.
Almost as horrible as Chinese karaoke.
It was just a late-term Chinese abortion. A complete misunderstanding.
Unfortunately, having been to China many many times I know the people fear the government and police. They will arrest you first and then worry about trying to figure out what happen. You could be in jail for a long time before they actually resolve the issue. I have seen people lying on the ground after being hit by a vehicle and watched hundreds of cars swerve around the body and not one would stop to help out of fear that they would be blamed for it. It is sickening. They also have no regard for human life. They drive like lunatics and I was with a driver once who wasn't paying attention and was heading right at this old man crossing the street. I had to yell at him and he looked up and swerved around at the last minute. I told him that was close and he had to keep his eyes on the road. What he said to me make my stomach turn. As he smiled at me he said "Oh Mr Bob, too many people, too many people" as if it was OK if one of them was killed by an on coming vehicle.
It's still a communist country and the people know very little about what goes on outside their borders.
actually not really. If the victim is only injured, the couple need to pay for all the medical bill, which can be huge. But if the victim is dead, they only need to pay a small fine, $4000 RMB if I did not remember wrong. That's why there was a BMW driver hit a kid, and he came out of his vehicle and found out the kid is still alive and he got back to his BMW and ran over the kid again and again to make sure the kid is dead.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, nothing good has ever came from any oriental person singing karaoke.
wonder why they collapsed this...
Collapsing Nazis did it.
Wow. Instead of a DUI, they face murder charges. Nice.
Nope they face SUI charges. (Stupidity under the influence).
Still wonder why I still call them the Communist Red Chinese?
Maye because the Communist Party still rules with an iron fist? They have implements some aspects of Capitalism, but in the end it is still the Party that has the final say.
But they thought the old lady ka-roked.
lol Good one!
You want to get outraged ?
Report: Cartel Banks have a Monopoly on Money creation. How can that be if Monopolies are illegal? (for everyone except private Banking? Whos idea was this? Private Bankers of course)
When you give monopolistic powers to an Organized crime syndicate expect to be robbed.
Get your priorites straight US debt slaves.
Who the F%^K cares about China ? 1 billion plus people ,they ain't gonna miss an old woman.
... And someone will try to blame the US.
Get over it! If you don't start talking nonsense, profiling others, as if it can only happen in China when you know too well there are worse cases in the U.S., then there is no reason for anyone to come at you and blame the U.S. Your worse enemy is your selective amnesia and arrogance.
I'm sure its Obama's fault. I haven't seen the post yet but I'm sure its here someplace.
Its only the start for China. The best is yet to come.
This would NEVER happen in the US!!
(we're too lazy to dig a hole)
Man I have coffee all over my keyboard! your stupid! True though, dump them on the side of road, but bury them? fat chance!
At least they wont be buried alive.
When morals are set by man they can migrate to any extreme. Why humans are just biological machines no different than a bicycle so what is the problem with dismantling one and recycling the parts?
Only when our morals are dictated by God will man live in harmony with each other.
And of course you're best suited to know exactly what God wants.
Which God and how do you know yours is the real God?
"Only when our morals are dictated by God will man live in harmony with each other."
Well, it's been a few thousand years and I see no improvement as of yet. By the way, how did those Muslim and Christian crusades work out, when they were running around destroying each other and killing in the name of God?
Violence, hatred, bigotry and intolerance? You need look no further than organized religions, which are nothing more than a form of control of the masses. One has no need for organized religions or to be present in a religious building to have faith.
Perhaps if they regressed to the mean and were a bit more liberal they would just allow them to drive drunk legally and none of this would be an issue. Just let people do what they want.
No, its you Conservatives that want the freedom to do whatever you want! you know like carrying 44 magnums to the grocery store.
Oh wow, in the USA first they wouldn't have stopped. Second, if they had stopped and a witness saw them loading the woman in their car, they would had killed the witness also. Third, they would had buried her further off the road. come on we are much better at this stuff then the Chinese.
Yall a bunch of spanks. To clarify - internet commentators are losers, myself notwithstanding. TTFN dorks.
A note to the author: How dare you refer to a 68 year old as an OLD woman? Get your sh-- together before you decide to slam others. You should have learned that in your journalism classes - if you took any...
Sorry, cheryl-michigan-3487677 but after 40 we're all on the down slope....and it's a really fast slide, so don't blink, or you'll miss it. LOL
In America these two could become Democrat icons - ala Ted Kennedy.
"In America these two could become Democrat icons - ala Ted Kennedy."
Palza, did you come up with that pearl of wisdom all by yourself? You need to crawl back into the political sewer you escaped from. It's people such as yourself who are the biggest instigators of political strife in our country today.
Your post is a crock of @!$%#; nothing more, nothing less. My condolences to your family and any friends you may have.
China SINdrome!
New ad slogan: Made in China, Slayed in China.
Consider what has happened here. An innocent elderly woman was killed, horrifically. A young couple must now live with the fact that they not only hit this woman, but then buried her alive. Then, comments are made that it must be something wrong with the Chinese people. This is a problem worldwide. Morality has declined all over the world and we have hardened our hearts to these kinds of events. What has happened to our humanity and our humility? Every second of our lives is recorded in our own book of life and we are measured on every thought and action. How very disappointing, to have so many go so wrong, and then to discount it so easily.
"In America these two could become Democrat icons - ala Ted Kennedy."
And the idiotic post of the day award goes to...
Congratulations, Palza.
It happens in Bikini Bottom also! Mr. Krabs and Spongebob thought they killed the health inspector and tried to bury him. Maybe they have episodes of Spongebob in China??
Guess they don't have ambulence chasers??
This is a terrible incident, but it's a bit much to say that morality is on the decline (as some people on here are) because a few incidents like this get sensationalized by the media. It always amazes me every time a story comes up like this how people jump on the bandwagon of saying "morality is in decline", "what happened to society", etc. That's not to say there aren't problems in society or Chinese society either, but the reason that things like this get reported to begin with is that they're extreme examples of things that happen rarely. It's like how some people see an airliner crash on TV they greatly overestimate the chances of it occurring to them when they fly.
WOW! Chinese CHECKERS!