China’s Shame: Two year-old Wang Yue Crushed Under Two Vans, Left to Die
By Jennifer Hartline
10/24/2011
This article first appeared in Catholic Online (http://www.catholic.org) and is copied here with permission.
Look at China: see what happens when people become mere instruments of productivity for the sake of economic prosperity.
The shocking death of 2 year-old Wang Yue may finally succeed in accomplishing what up to this point has not quite been done: bringing shame upon China for their abhorrent and violent treatment of their daughters. Perhaps Little Yueyue, by her horrible, brutal death, will begin to arouse a disinterested world; perhaps she can revive the death-cold heart of her country by forcing the Chinese people to see her for what she was: a human being; a helpless child they trampled and threw away.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – Little girls are worth next to nothing in China. Baby girls are killed on a regular basis in China. We all know that.
Yet little YueYue’s story may finally succeed in accomplishing what up to this point has not quite been done: bringing shame upon China for their abhorrent and violent treatment of their daughters.
The Chinese government routinely rounds up women who violate the 1-child policy by getting pregnant with a second child and forcibly aborts them, even well into the third trimester of pregnancy. Some mothers die along with their preborn babies. Sometimes they threaten and beat up fathers and husbands who refuse to cooperate; they threaten families’ homes and businesses; in short, they destroy people’s lives in every way they can — literally. All for the sake of their evil, anti-human policies.
Yet inexplicably, this has failed to draw the international ire it deserves. Even our own government tries not to really notice, and certainly goes out of its way not to criticize. I don’t really expect intelligent or courageous talk from Vice President Joe Biden, but his political-correctness sank to an inexcusable low when he told the Chinese, “We understand.”
Perhaps Wang Yue, by her horrible, brutal death, will begin to arouse a disinterested world; perhaps she can revive the death-cold heart of her country by forcing the Chinese people to see her for what she was: a human being; a helpless child they trampled and threw away.
Left in the Street to Die
On October 13, Wang Yue, nicknamed “Little Yueyue”, was crushed nearly to death in the street in the Chinese province of Guangdong. She’d wandered out alone into the small street near her parents’ shop, and she was run over by a van. The driver hit her and she fell under the front wheel. The van slowed to a stop, and then drove on, crushing her a second time under the back wheel.
The driver never stopped again.
Now mutilated, smashed and broken, bleeding profusely onto the ground, Little Yueyue lay there as a total of 18 people passed her by. The first man to encounter her practically had to step over her as he walked past. He never stopped. Others walking down the street stopped to stare for a moment before turning their heads and continuing on their way.
Her little arms still moving from time to time, she waited in agony for help. Not a single adult who witnessed her suffering did anything to help her. A 2 year-old child lay in the street crushed and dying, and no one would even acknowledge her there.
Then, unbearably, along came a second van. The driver made no apparent attempt to avoid her, and she was crushed under the wheel for a third time.
As more people continued to pass her by, her blood flowed into the street.
Finally, an older woman carrying a trash bag sees her, set her bag down, and walked over to the mangled child.
She grabbed Yueyue by the arms and dragged her across the pavement, out of the way of oncoming vehicles and people. Then, the child’s mother appeared, and she half-carried her dying child away.
Little Yueyue died of brain and organ failure on Friday, October 21. The intensive-care doctors treating her said her injuries were too severe and treatment had no effect.
Undeniable Brutality
The entire, horrific, unspeakable scene in the street was captured on surveillance video and posted online for the whole world to see. There can be no denying what happened to this child; no one can attempt to explain or rationalize or ask us to understand.
I watched the gruesome video and fought the intense urge to vomit. The violence, apathy, callousness, and stone-cold indifference of the people who crushed and then ignored this little girl is sickening beyond words. It will leave you shaken to the core. If it does not, something’s very wrong.
We must call China to account for this act of brutality and inhumane cruelty. Chinese officials may attempt to conceal from the eyes of the world their violent treatment of pregnant women, their destruction of preborn babies, their brutality against families who violate the inhumane one-child policy, but this, this they cannot conceal.
They cannot pretend it did not take place, nor shroud it in political language. The images and facts of Yueyue’s death give indisputable testimony to the truth that China has lost its humanity and its soul.
We can take some small measure of encouragement from the cries of outrage being voiced by many Chinese citizens who are asking what has happened to their country to cause such apathy in the face of a child’s suffering.
A BBC news story said that many people in China choose not to help for fear that they will end up being charged for the crime. Without evidence to prove their own innocence, they will not interfere.
A professor of social science at Hong Kong University of Science “said he believed China’s political environment had ‘no tolerance’ for people with a social conscience.”
Can anyone still seriously question the destructive effects of a government that rejects the moral laws of human freedom, religious freedom, and the sanctity of human life? Look at China: see what happens when people become mere instruments of productivity for the sake of economic prosperity.
Will the United States government now finally voice an unequivocal condemnation of China’s brutal and cruel human-rights violations? What do you think, Joe? Do you still understand? How about you, Mr. President? Any comment?
Be wary and pay attention, America, because China’s present could become our future if we do not cherish our freedoms and guard our hearts.
I saw a beautiful photo of Yueyue, her mother and her older brother, and the thought occurred to me, “Wait — she’s their 2nd child? How’d they manage to have two children?”
Is it unreasonable to question whether perhaps this little girl was targeted and killed intentionally because she was her parents’ 2nd child? It’s a chilling thought, but is it really an unreasonable one?
For now what we know for certain is that a little girl has demanded through her death the attention her country refused her as she lay bleeding in the street. She died a victim of apathy and cruelty. Shame on China! Shame on every person who passed her by and ignored her.
Rest now in peace, little Yueyue, in the loving embrace of your Heavenly Father. Those who mourn your death beg your forgiveness and ask for your prayers. Please pray for your lost country.
Jennifer Hartline is a grateful Catholic, a proud Army wife and homeschooling mother of three. She is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.
Related:
