People who moved China: Chen Xianmei

 

Chen Xianmei.[File photo]

Chen Xianmei is a cook and trash collector on a street lined with hardware shops in Foshan, Guangdong Province.

Wrinkled and plainly dressed, the slim woman hardly attracts attention when walking on the street, except the occasion sneer or sideways glance for her seemingly indecent job. Yet it was the scrap collector who dwarfed 18 passersby on the street Oct. 13, 2011, when a toddler was run over by a white van on a narrow lane.

The car paused, and then accelerated, crushing the child a second time. Two passengers and a cyclist passed, noticing the bleeding child in the middle of the street, but making no attempt to help, leaving two-year-old Wang Yue where she lay. Just minutes later, she was run over again by another vehicle. Another 15 people passed. But still none went to her aid.

Then came Chen, she rushed to the girl. Unable to hold the soft and lifeless girl up, Chen put the child to the roadside and shouted to the neighboring shops to see if her parents were around. It was then that Yueyue's mother found her gravely injured girl and rushed the child to hospital. The mother later knelt down in front of Chen to show her gratitude, crying uncontrollably. [Full story]