If you haven't heard, a couple from China, Zhang Yitian and his wife, returned an extra S$13,400 (65,700 yuan) to the money at changer People’s Park Complex, after they had keyed in the wrong figure.

The couple were visiting their daughter in Singapore and were exchanging money for her school fees. The Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts in Britain, the school that the couple's daughter had been accepted, required S$60,000 in a local bank account.

Their daughter is currently studying at Hwa Yi Secondary School.

As a news story, it was a good deed worth documenting.

But it's also likely that the story blew up in an unexpected way because it broke the stereotype Singaporeans have held of mainland Chinese.

The couple themselves was surprised by the approving reactions towards their actions.

But they were aware of why that is so:

“I know many countries don’t have a good image of mainland Chinese,” he added.

“It’s my own country, I understand. There are many of my countrymen who can lack civility, but I still believe there are many more people – not just Chinese – who are kind.”

The couple saw what they did as simply the right thing to do, and not something that they expected to be glorified, as they suddenly have been held up as a shining beacon of moral standard for their fellow countrymen.

That is the elephant in the room.

It's the same concept everywhere else and relevant to everyone else.

The mainland Chinese in Singapore or those encountered overseas on holiday are but a small group of people who can exemplify the worst sort of behaviour. They clearly cannot be representative of everyone from where they come from.

Retaliation against the minority of rowdy, unruly Chinese people has only served to lower expectations over time.

It is evident that years of negative impressions will take time to undo -- as there are still negative comments in response to the couple returning the money to the money changer:

However, there are many more positive stories that have surfaced from this episode.

Like these:

Let's hope that wholesome, positive actions by anyone can be celebrated for what it is, regardless of nationality.

Let's celebrate good but not because it is the exception to the rule.

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