On the afternoon of March 22, a woman named Xie Sanxiu in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province walks on her knees with her 6-month-old daughter who has eye cancer. A netizen had promised her 20,000 yuan ($3,000) if she could walk a few blocks on her knees. The woman did that in the hope of saving her baby, but the netizen failed to keep the promise.
Two days later, tianya.cn confirmed to media that this incidence was a hype plotted by its moderator Shi Jinquan, who had put all the plan of hype on line before the kneeling incident. According to Shi, he told Xie about the plan and the woman agreed to cooperate. Xie said she just wants to save her baby. Netizens who later realized having been cheated into the scheme expressed great anger and criticism on Internet.
Xie Sanxiu (the mother): Many thanks to kind-hearted people!
On March 24, Xie told Guangzhou Daily that she was really grateful to media and donors. Many people consoled her by phone and gave her donations.
Up to 9:00 am of the day, she had received a donation of 215,000 yuan ($ 32,800 ), which is almost enough to treat her baby. She said no more donations is needed.
Shi Jinquan (the plotter): Life outweighs morality.
“Life outweighs morality,” Shi Jinquan told Guangzhou daily. As an Internet marketer who had plotted a few media events, he said he did all these things without any pay and he even donated 300 yuan. “The worst link of the whole event is the disclosure of truth by media. If it went on as it were, the thing would not turn bad.”
Netizens
Criticism: Good ends do not justify bad means.
Netizen A: The society goes crazy. Do good ends justify bad means? Should any one cheat the society?
Netizen B: Shi just wants to add something impressive to his resume as an Internet marketer. He does not care about his reputation at all.
Netizen C: This way of asking for help should not be encouraged.
Understanding: All is for help.
Netizen D: In sense, I hate the plotter while in sensibility, he did help the mother in need.
Netizen E: Did the plotter do anything wrong to save a child through a hype? If it were not for the hype, the child would die.
