A full week after her death, 2-year-old Yueyue continues to bother the Chinese conscience hardened by the country's push towards wealth. The introspection is spreading to other countries that experienced similar incidents.

A survey by China Youth Daily found that among 4,065 young Chinese, 88 per cent believe the toddler died not so much from the physical fact of her being crushed thrice by two vans, but the apathy of residents.

The evidence of that indifference, which is said to reflect a growing reluctance to help strangers in distress for fear of being sued, was the CCTV footage of 18 passers-by and cyclists who ignored the bloodied child.

The fear of finding themselves in trouble by helping people in need was the explanation given by 71 per cent of the survey respondents for the cold reaction of the pedestrians to Yueyue.

One positive result of the attention that Yueyue's case generated was a growing change in attitude among Chinese. The survey found that 58 per cent said they would start to change their attitude and consider offering help when in a similar situation.

With the video going viral on China's equivalent of YouTube and reaching Western media, what happened to Yueyue led to recollection of similar incidents in other nations.

Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason recalled what happened on April 18, 2010, to Hugo Tale-Yax, a 31-year-old homeless person in Queen's, N.Y. He came to the rescue of a woman who was threatened by another man with a knife.

Tale-Yax was abandoned by the woman he saved and ignored by more than two dozen people who were caught on CCTV passing by while he held on to his wound and moaned for help.

One person rolled the stabbed man over and then went on, while another stopped to take a photo and did nothing afterwards. Finally, one Good Samaritan called an ambulance but by the time it arrived - 80 minutes after the attack - Tale-Yax succumbed to his injury.

"The truth is our recent history in North America is littered with examples of bystander indifference that are every bit as troubling as the case of that poor little girl in China who would later die from her injuries," Mason wrote.

He recalled other similar incidents such as the 78-year-old pedestrian who was hit by a car in Hartford, Conn., and a 16-year-old girl who was gang raped in British Columbia.

Social psychologists call the phenomenon the bystander effect.

"The bystander effect suggests that the more people there are present in the vicinity of someone who needs help, the less likely it is that any one of them is going to step forward to assist the person. Their numbers create a 'diffusion of responsibility' that individuals will use as an excuse to squirm out of their responsibility to be good citizens," Mason explained.

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