Chinese Gather at Accident Scene for Memorial to Yueyue

About 200 Foshan residents gathered over the weekend at the hardware market where 2-year-old Yueyue was hit thrice by two trucks and ignored by 18 people on Oct 13. The residents, in an attempt to remove their city's stigma of being indifferent to strangers in need, held a memorial for the toddler whose death stirred China into a national soul-searching.

The residents who came responded to an invitation from a Foshan motivational speaker to gather at the narrow road at Guangfo International Iron-Mongery City where the accident happened.

They observed a minute of silence and read aloud a pledge to make a difference and be less apathetic towards others.

"That one moment of coldness spread across the country and became everyone's wound. ... If it were you or me on that day, we would have at least stopped and pulled her aside. We would at least have lent a helping hand to ask for help, call the police and protect her," Shanghaiist quoted the motivational speaker.

"We will not complain about the powerless legal system or degraded morality. ... Starting with me, we will spread warmth around and drive away cold-heartedness," the speaker said.

Similar memorials and candlelit vigils were held in other Chinese cities. In Guangzhou province alone where Foshan is located, more than 10,000 residents mourned Yueyue's death with slogans and pictures to denounce society's cold-heartedness and push for safer driving.

Many residents also took the occasion to promise to help change Chinese society, beginning with themselves.

"I can't demand that others change, but I can start marking a difference myself. My power might be tiny, but it will be passed on an multiplied to have a big impact," the South China Morning Post quoted 41-year-old Hu Zhiyong, who like Yueyue's parents is also a migrant in Foshan.

"I'm in great pain, as it feels like the accident has happened to me, because the girl is one of my own people," said 24-year-old shop owner Liu Minglei, who comes from Yueyue's hometown of Liaocheng in Shandong Province.