Recently, a video of a young woman being attacked on the Beijing Subway for refusing to give her seat to an elderly man circulated widely online. After the woman refused to give up her seat to a 65-year-old man on Line 10 of the city’s subway system, he began knocking her thighs with a wooden cane.
In the video, the woman is seen pointing at the man and saying: “I would give up my seat to anyone else, but you.”
The man then threatened her: “Sue me, go ahead, let’s go to the police and you can tell them I threatened you.” The man was eventually arrested and ultimately detained for ten days.
Netizens across China have taken to the internet with videos of similar incidents. On the subway in Shenyang, security was called when a young man refused to give up his seat after an old man demanded he stand up. In the video, which soon went viral, the young man screamed: “Are you giving me money? No? Then don’t bother me! I’m just happy to be sitting here. What’s wrong with me grabbing a seat?”
The topic has prompted heated discussion online. Most netizens agree that physical violence on the subway should be taken seriously with legal action by the police, regardless of the person’s age.
Netizens also accused the old man in Beijing of using his age to claim authority over the young girl in a condescending and pretentious manner, encapsulated by the expression “act old, sell old” (倚老卖老, yīlǎo màilǎo). Many pointed out that there were so many other passengers on the subway but he specifically picked on the young girl, blatantly targeting her for appearing “weak.”
Other netizens commented that giving up public transit seats to older passengers is a display of the classical Chinese teaching to “respect the elderly, love the young” (尊老爱幼, zūnlǎo àiyòu). While as a society, young people should be encouraged to respect the elderly, clearly many Chinese youth feel that older generations should in turn treat them with the bare minimum of courtesy and politeness.
Banner image by Haedi Yue.
