Passengers on a Shanghai metro train Photo: IC

It's Saturday night on Shanghai's metro Line 2, and weary shoppers, tired from a day's bargain hunting, fill the carriage. Sitting among them is a young white male. At first, no one pays him any heed. But suddenly, his head lolls to the side, coming to rest on the shoulder of the passenger next to him. The passenger leaps out of her seat and flees.

She is soon followed by other passengers as a panic explodes through the carriage like a bush fire. The foreigner's unconscious body slumps to the floor. As one, the passengers flee to the adjoining carriages. The train draws into a station and there is a stampede to get off, during which a man is knocked to the ground. The man is left lying splayed out in the middle of the carriage, no one moving to offer assistance until a member of staff boards the train and helps him.

The event, captured by the train's surveillance camera, is of a kind that has become all too familiar in China, and which many people say is indicative of a worrying moral deficiency that sees people shockingly indifferent to the plight of strangers.

Others say that it is not a moral problem, but a legal one. A famous ruling by a judge in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in 2007 that found a good Samaritan liable for the injuries of an elderly woman he had helped after a fall is the most commonly cited example of why people are reluctant to help. If going to the aid of another may land you in trouble with the authorities, then it is understandable that people are scared to lift a hand to help others.

The Global Times took to the streets to ask foreigners what they think about this and whether they have had any similar experiences.

Josh Newsom, IT manager, the US

I read about this event, and it is just another in a long line of things that remind me I am living in a very different culture. Back home, I think even in the toughest places, if someone collapsed in public, there'd be at least one person who would step up and help out. But this video blew me away.

One, is the fact that no one helped. But two, it's the herd mentality on display - the way everyone panics so quickly for no reason. But what's really crazy is the way that, when it gets obvious that there isn't any big accident, that it's just a guy that needs help, still no one steps forward. In fact, the more I think about it, the angrier I get!

Evan Eames, teacher, the US

Oh, I saw this video. I thought it was too good. It was so funny. One of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. It's ridiculous because I've seen foreigners pass out so many times, getting drunk or doing something crazy. He's obviously drunk and he just fell over. The reaction is amazing. One person flees, and then everybody is like … The way he passes out, it is obvious he is drunk, from the way his body just goes completely relaxed. And then his confusion when he gets up. I think all the people thought he had Ebola. I'm pretty sure they were like "the only reason a guy can pass out on a subway in this day and age is the Ebola virus." I'd probably go over and make sure he's cool. I've not witnessed a whole lot of people helping people here. A friend of mine saw a motorcycle accident, and there was a guy laid out in the middle of the street. So my friend went out to the middle of the street to help. He had to tell the people standing around to call the cops. All the other people were standing around not knowing what to do. The way the society here is you have to roll with how everything's going.

James, consultant, the US

This is the first time I have heard about this. I've been in China for 11 years. I've heard of stuff like this before. I think the kind of thing that feeds into it is that there have been a lot of cases of people being sued in good Samaritan situations. So people are scared of having any kind of liability. So it can be understandable from a certain angle. But on the other hand, it could also be not wanting to be near a sketchy foreigner, which is also totally understandable. It's people responding to incentives. It's not like a permanent immutable feature of Chinese people. If you could have a law in which people who volunteer to help are safeguarded, this could help.

Kimmo Puusa, Finland

I read about this incident and heard that everybody fled the scene. At first I thought that maybe people were scared because this incident involved a foreigner; but then I read some discussions that said no matter whether it was a foreigner or a Chinese person, they would have fled just because nobody wants to be involved. People are scared that they will be held responsible for something.

For sure, I think the passengers overreacted, since we would hope that someone would help. I've read some other stories of people getting hurt and nobody helping them. There was some story years ago about somebody in China who did help and they were accused of injuring that person. But it's not just in China these days that people don't stop to help any more, I think this is happening more and more around the world.

Maybe something can be done, but in general I think that attitudes won't change (overnight) just because of a campaign or something like that. Maybe some legal protection would help, but I would assume that Shanghai already had something like that - or that it would be illegal to leave someone in trouble. I hope that I would be able to offer help to someone, but who knows since it really depends on the circumstances.

Bruce Carrol, lecturer, the US

I read about that incident and saw the video. I would first ask whether or not the passengers would have done the same thing if it had been a Chinese person who fainted. I wouldn't want to draw any conclusions too quickly. I lived for three years in South Korea and it seems like we find, from culture to culture, the idea that anyone who comes from somewhere else might have a disease or might be dirty … that could have played a role here.

I think the media can bring people's attention to the fact that even though this is a very large city - and you almost have to ignore other people because if you were conscious of everyone it would drive you crazy - we should still be aware of one another and more empathetic to one another. I would imagine that law would help, since it does have an awfully powerful influence over our behavior.

Hannah, teacher, the UK

I hadn't heard about this. I'm surprised - I just think someone would help. If anything, I think people are quite nosy when this kind of stuff happens. When you see a traffic accident, people all stop and take pictures or they crowded around to see what's going on. Of course none of this helps, but people just want to see what's happening; so it surprises me that people ran away.

Global Times