A few months after we arrived in Beijing, my wife and I heard screams coming from an apartment nearby. It sounded like a woman in distress. The screaming went on and on. It was after midnight. My wife got out of bed, pulled on a fleece and went to investigate.

I followed taking the precaution to pick up a small but heavy stool.

The source of the screams was the apartment directly below. When I arrived my wife and the concierge were about to knock on the door.

I stepped up and banged the door. A few seconds later a burly guy appeared. In my best Glasgow accent I told him not to lay a finger on his lady friend or I would part his scalp with my small but heavy stool. He got the message. The screaming stopped.

Should we get involved when we see someone getting hurt or falling down in the street or other public place?

On our second week in Beijing, my wife tripped on the pavement and fell her length (a tree root had raised the paving stone). There were lots of passers-by, but no one stopped to help her to her feet. Embarrassed, she got up and limped home.

"If that had happened in Glasgow someone would have stopped to help me," my wife told me later. "It's common humanity to help someone who's fallen."

Of course it is. We were puzzled. A Chinese friend explained that he would never get involved if he saw an incident in the street. Why not, we asked him.

"Well, they might sue you if something went wrong," he replied.

Which brings me to an incident earlier this month.

A 23-year-old Chinese student surnamed Wang stabbed his mother nine times. Wang had flown in to Pudong Airport, Shanghai, from Japan where he has been studying for five years.

His doting mother was there to meet him off the plane.

Apparently they argued about money. Wang told police later: "She said something like if I continued to ask for money there would only be one result. And all of a sudden my mind went blank and I charged up to her and stabbed her."

Wang's mother, surnamed Gu, collapsed in the airport terminal with blood pouring from her wounds.

The only person who came to her aid was an unidentified laowai. This young foreign backpacker can be seen on video on China Smack kneeling beside the stricken woman and calling for help.

The video also shows passers-by stopping to watch the unfolding drama.

None went to help, but presumably someone phoned the police and called an ambulance.

Gu lived, possibly thanks to the young backpacker. She spent a week in intensive care before being moved to a medical ward.

The behavior of the airport crowd struck me as incomprehensible. Surely anyone would go to the aid of a victim of crime? Especially when he or she is bleeding to death.

China Smack provided a link to another news story which might explain the reluctance of people to get involved.

Peng Yu went to the aid of a 65-year-old woman who fell and injured herself at a bus stop in Shanghai. Peng helped her up and at her request took her to hospital.

The woman then blamed Peng for barging into her and causing her to fall.

She sued Peng and the judge ruled that Peng had probably run into the woman. He was ordered to pay her 45,000 yuan ($6,923).

In the West we have a name for someone who helps a stranger in distress: a good Samaritan. Don't let fear of being sued prevent you from showing your compassion for fellow human beings.

Why did my wife and myself get involved when we heard a woman screaming? Quite simply, I couldn't live with myself if we had done nothing that night and next day we discovered that a young woman had been murdered, and no one had lifted a finger to help, despite her terrified screams.

China Daily