A Spanish man who rescued a drowning boy was deemed a "good Samaritan" in Changshu, a city in East China's Jiangsu province, on Tuesday.

Josep Sola-Niubo and Tang Shanlu with the boy they saved and his mother in Changshu, Jiangsu province, on Tuesday. [Du Haibo / for China Daily]

On April 5, Josep Sola-Niubo, 43, joined with Tang Shanlu, a young Chinese, to save the life of a 2-year-old boy. Hearing the boy's mother scream, Tang saw him floating face down in a pond in Xinzhuang township in Changshu and rushed to bring him back to the bank.

Josep, who knows how to perform first aid, immediately began giving the boy cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Before learning of the emergency, he was riding his bicycle to another city.

"At the beginning, I didn't know what was going on, because two women stopped my bicycle with their faces full of tears," Josep said. "I didn't understand what they wanted from me, but I sensed that they might need help."

To avoid damaging the boy's fragile ribs, Josep tried to be extremely careful when performing the CPR. Finally the boy, who was "white and still" when he was pulled from the water, began to breathe.

"The mother later said she had also stopped a car before Josep offered to help, but the driver had just left without saying a word," said Du Haibo, a good friend of Josep.

"I sleep very well at night when I help other people," Josep said. "I just did what I should do."

Besides being deemed a good Samaritan, he was also awarded 2,000 yuan ($316) by the Changshu Foundation for Justice and Courage.

Du said Josep left the scene of the accident after saving the boy. A police car chased after him and an officer took his picture.

"Because of the language barriers, when the officer asked Josep to leave his phone numbers, he thought that the officer just wanted to send him the picture," Du said. "If he knew that it was for a reward, he would not have left his message.

Shen Jingxue, director of the Changshu Foundation for Justice and Courage, said the reasons for the award are simple.

"We award everyone who makes a great effort to help others in Changshu because we are trying to promote bravery and be a friendly place," Shen said. "The city has awarded more than 2,000 people for their bravery since 1994, and Josep is the first foreigner that has been honored."

In March, a legal seminar in Shanghai released its definition of a heroic deed in a draft version of a "good Samaritan law", saying that such a deed is done to protect national or public welfare or other people's personal safety or financial security.

Contact the writers at cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn and songwenwei@chinadaily.com.cn