Information is widespread on the Internet that the PRC supposedly cannot be saved, and this ban is enshrined in law. We decided to check if this is so.

The fact that in China there is a law prohibiting saving drowning write on Information And entertainment portals, as well as on sitesdedicated to travel to this country. Users of social networks are also divided by this fact ("VKontakte" Facebook*, Twitter). Service visitors questions And answers Often they are interested in whether such a law really exists in China. In some sources specified: The ban is due to the fact that the salvation of drowning is supposedly considered an interference in someone else's fate, which contradicts Chinese philosophy.

“Verified” failed to find any references to the ban on the salvation of drowning (or other needy) Constitution of the PRCnor in Criminal Code countries. If we talk about Chinese philosophy, which is allegedly dictated by the ban on saving a person and interfering in his fate, then it is not entirely clear what the authors of posts mean by these words. Traditionally under Chinese philosophy implied The combination of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism-three dominant religious and philosophical movements in China. “Verified” failed to find such a ban in any of them. Chinese philosopher Maine Tzu, considered the second after Confucius himself the founder of Confucianism, is completely directly He said: “If you do not help the drowning sizes, it means to be a wolf or a hype.” But be that as it may, The ruling party of the PRC - Communist, therefore, the state, as a result, secular and religious norms are not included in the legislation. Moreover, although now in China relative freedom of religion, until 1982, all religious activities were banned, and clergymen of different faiths were subjected to repression. It is difficult to imagine that in such conditions, laws could be adopted in accordance with the traditional religious and philosophical views on the life of a person and his fate.

In 2014, Reportedthat in China, more than 160 people are drowning on average every day. At that time, this was the main cause of mortality among children 5-14 years old. By Media for 2017, in the province of Hainan, which, no matter how ironic, Praise Sea resorts, more than 80% of primary and secondary school students did not know how to swim. By that time, the main cause of children's mortality was an accident, but drowning was in second place. Therefore, perhaps, the rejection of helping drowning in China is not associated with a legislative ban at all, but partly swim with inability-respectively, with the inability to help someone in the water.

At the same time, stories were repeatedly widely covered in the media, when the drowning people in China were still able to save, and the saviors were not in a hurry to put him in prison. So, in 2020, a British diplomat Stephen Ellison In the village near Chunzin, saved a woman who fell into the river and began to sink. After that, he became a hero in Chinese social networks, his actions were also highly appreciated by the Chinese ambassador to the UK. In 2023, a courier from Beijing Pan Tsinlin He jumped from the bridge to save a drowning woman. For his heroic act, he received a prize from a food delivery company where he worked, and from the city authorities (50,000 yuan, at the rate at the time of writing a dismantling - about 670,000 rubles), as well as the ability to study at the university for free. In the same year Yang Huamin, a resident of the city of Changzhou, saved a sinking woman and her two children. He also received gratitude from the mayor and a 3000 yuan award (about 40,000 rubles). To find news in the media that a person who saved the drowning in the PRC be convicted for this, “verified”.

Moreover, in China, there really is a systemic problem With the indifference of people who witnessed accidents and did not even try to help the victims. This Explained The fact that standing aside or passing by is simply safer: trying to help, you can run into a claim for damage. One of the most high -profile such precedents occurred in 2006, when in Nanjing a man named Pan Yu took a woman who had fallen at the bus stop to the hospital, and then received a lawsuit from her - the victim claimed that Panen Yui pushed her, and drew to the hospital to make up for guilt. Although none of the participants in the process could present convincing evidence of their point of view, the court DecidedWhat a man would hardly help a woman if he had not become a cause of her fall, so he should pay 40% of the cost of treatment - more than 45,000 yuan (about 600,000 rubles at the current rate). However, for some data, Pan Yu was still involved in the fall of the plaintiff, but his business largely influenced public opinion, having repelled the hunting to help the victims. There were other similar precedents, such a thing even appeared in China as “touching porcelain” - a type of fraud, including an attempt to claim compensation from a person who tried to help. In 2011, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China People's Daily spent Online survey, will people help the elderly person who has lost consciousness on the street. More than 80% of respondents replied that they would not, fearing to become victims of extortion.

To rectify the situation in 2017 in China adopted the lawWhich, by analogy with similar norms of Western countries, can be called the "Law on the Good Samaritan." According to him, people who voluntarily provide urgent help to the wounded, patients who are in danger or otherwise need help, will not be civilian liability in the event of a non -mentioned harm to the victims. So the Chinese authorities are trying to encourage citizens to be more responsive without fear of suffering financial losses for this. PrecedentsWhen this law helped, there were already: for example, in 2020 in the Schinyan, the pharmacy owner made a massage of the heart of a woman with a heart attack - he managed to save her life, but in the process of resuscitation he broke her 12 ribs. The woman sued her savior, but thanks to the new law, he was released from any responsibility.

Thus, in the legislation of China there are no prohibitions to save drowning or any other people who are in danger. In the society of the PRC, it is really not customary to help strangers, but not because of fear of intervening in someone’s fate or violating the law, but because of often cases of fraud, when the victims are trying (and sometimes quite successful) to extort money from their saviors. In order to overcome the indifference of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom and protect people who want to help others, in 2017 a law was adopted by which they should not be responsible, even if in the process of salvation they were not caused by harm. So the Chinese authorities not only do not prohibit, but also try to encourage the initiative of people who save others in critical situations. In the media you can find stories when the heroes were not only thanked, but even awarded the cash payments from the state for the salvation of the victims, including drowning.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Pixabay.com