A late-night, seemingly drunken spat in Beijing has inflamed Chinese public anger as reports show that the physical altercation involved a threatening expat male and a crying Chinese woman.
The couple was seen wrestling in the middle of a busy Chaoyang road late Tuesday night, forcing an eyewitness named Guo to stop his vehicle.
At first, the unidentified Chinese woman was seen lying on the road, resisting the efforts of an expat man standing above her. Later, while is standing upright, the woman is seen striking the man and pulling at his hair as the two of them gradually move over to the side of the road where the woman falls into the bushes, crying loudly.
As seen in the video, the expat man aggressively refutes all attempts by the bystanders that have gathered at the scene, telling them things like: "I will beat the shit out of your fucking face right now," and "You wanna die?" At the same time, Guo is also heard to be acting aggressively, loudly commanding the expat man to give the Chinese woman her phone after she repeatedly asks for it.
Previously seen crouching down and trying to console the upset woman, the expat is later seen digging through the woman's purse, telling her "I'm giving you your phone."
But however helpful the expat tried to be, he has been most remembered by Chinese media for his aggressiveness. Caijing magazine lead off its report on the incident by saying the expat issued threats while the Evening Law Reportquoted the expat has having told a local passerby to "f**k off."
The incident eventually ended with the crowd dispersing after the initially unresponsive woman said she didn't require any help. Guo is heard asking, "Are you sure? Just say the word, and I'll leave. Just confirm it and I'll leave."
Having stopped his car to ensure the woman wouldn't be struck by other vehicles, Guo said that he was just doing his civic duty. "I just think that somebody needed to step forward in this situation," Guo told Miaopai. "Just anybody, as long as there was somebody."
Although the distressed woman was only heard complaining about losing her iPhone, some Chinese netizens have reacted strongly against the expat man and blame him for this incident. "Can't we restrict the entry of these uncultured foreigners?"remarked one comment while another wrote in English, "Foreign garbage and a Chinese whore."
Others saw this as a call to justice over the victimization of a Chinese person. One person wrote, "Foreigners are so arrogant in China; why don't we beat and kill him? After all, Chinese are beaten up in Australia?" Another person said, "Chinese are simply too tolerant and polite towards these foreigners. Just take a look at the way Chinese are being treated abroad; there is no reciprocity of respect."
Meanwhile, others assign the blame more equally. One person asked, "The woman doesn't even think to care for herself, why should we?"
The concern shown over the woman's wellbeing isn't without precedent. In 2012, a UK expat was arrested in Beijing after he was seen trying to have sex with a screaming woman on a Xuanwumen Street.
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Twitter: @Sinopath
E-mail: charlesliu1@qq.com