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A teenage girl in China was seen getting on her knees to beg an older woman to return the 200 yuan (S$38.90) that she picked up from the street after the youngster dropped the money.
A video of the incident, which took place in Guangzhou in Guangdong province, southern China, over the weekend, has exploded on China's internet.
The video was viewed more than a combined 30 million times on Weibo and Douyin alone.
What video showed
The girl, dressed in her school uniform, could be seen crying after her initial requests for the return of her money was refused.
The woman, as reported by Xiaoran Video, could be heard saying without qualms: “Whoever picks up the money should own it.”
A friend of the teen girl shot back at the woman: “This is her money. We saw you pick it up from the road.”
The girl was at one point shouting for her money to be returned.
Passers-by step in
Passers-by did not hesitate to step in as well.
The man filming off-camera could be heard saying: “It is so wrong for this old woman not to return the money.”
He added: “We saw you pick up the money. There is no way you should not return it to the girl. Even if it’s 1,000 yuan, you should give it back, not to mention 200 yuan.”
Some others could be heard telling the girl to contact her parents.
But the girl shouted: “My parents don’t live with me. This money is very useful for me.”
The girl later explained that the 200 yuan was her weekly allowance for her expenses as her parents work in another city and she lives with her grandparents.
The woman finally gave up the money after more pedestrians stepped in and the girl was on her knees begging.
The woman was seen handing the money back to the girl who was kneeling at this point.
Responses to the video were unanimously critical of the woman.
Those who commented said they were aghast that 200 yuan was a significant sum for the girl, and they could not imagine the consequences if the money was not returned.
All photos via