American “French Fry Brother” In China Goes Viral For Act Of Charity

By Tim | Tuesday, June 5, 2012 | 29 Comments

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131579148 21n American French Fry Brother In China Goes Viral For Act Of Charity

Jason Loose, a 23 year old American living in China recently became an Internet sensation in China, after photos of his act of kindness went viral. It’s estimated there’s over 150,000 posts about him on China’s microblogging sites.

Loose was photographed (unknowingly) sharing his french fries and bottled water with an older female Chinese beggar in early May. On China’s blogging sites, he has been given the name the “French Fry Brother,” and his altruistic deed seems to have started many discussions and debates on morality amongst Chinese netizens.

Most of the news articles coming out about this act of kindness, compare it with the viral video last year of the two year old girl who was run over by a truck in China, and she did not receive assistance until the 19th person to walk by finally stopped to take notice. Little Yue Yue as she was later dubbed, did not survive her injuries. The main topic of course is about the apathy of the Chinese people, when it comes to matters of morality and charity.

Loose, on the other hand was mostly oblivious to the attention he received and didn’t consider his action heroic, as some have labeled him. When asked about his conversation with the 80 year old grandmother, who was begging as she had no support from her family, he said he did ask about her favorite food, and her response was “Not french fries”. Perhaps ironic, as some of the rare criticism leveled against Loose was with regard to the choice of food, which his critics considered less than healthy.

Altruism and charity is a tough topic in China, and yes even in the U.S. Many bloggers wrote about how difficult it is to know whether they are being scammed, as many beggars in China are not really beggars, but scammers. It’s a common refrain, people claiming that’s why they avoid giving to beggars in the street.

Loose’s story is of course not without controversy, as some writers wonder why it takes a foreigner’s act of kindness to point out the lack of morality in the Chinese populace. Personally, I think it’s irrelevant whether it’s a foreigner or a Chinese person to make us stop and think about the plight of others. The goal should be to make us aware, and hopefully make us take action.

When stories like this one about Jason Loose come into our lives, it makes us reflect on whether we’ve been charitable enough, and if we ourselves have done enough for those less fortunate in the world.

It certainly made me reflect again on whether I’ve done enough for my fellow man, and made me feel inadequate, when thinking about my role model in this respect, my late mother. My mom was the most kind and generous person I’ve known in my life. She used to give us (as kids) money regularly to drop in bowls and cups for beggars in the street and I remember her writing checks to charity after charity, even when she really didn’t have the money to do it. She had the kindest heart of anyone, and when I think about what I’ve been able to do for others, I can only feel like I’ve paled in comparison.

Like many others, I’ve passed by plenty of beggars in the street, telling myself, when I get home I’ll write a check to the local food bank instead. It’s easier to distance ourselves, than to sit down next to someone and offer to buy them a meal. If Jason Loose, can take time out of his day and offer half his meal to someone in need, then anyone should be able to, and that’s the real point of this story.

[Source: gongyi.people.com.cn]

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m_wei

pick up the white man’s burden: KONY2012!
http://www.facebook.com/emily.dzenowski Emily Elaine Dzenowski

Good for him. I think we can all learn something from this. I wonder, do you think Americans could do the same with homeless people in the U.S.? It would be nice to see people treating the homeless with more respect here.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

There are quite a few Chinese individuals in China who perform acts of kindness. This American guy is just one example being used and emphasize, for better or worst, more because of the foreigner aspect. There are examples of Chinese citizens, young and old, rich or poor, acting benevolent and sometimes they get clouded by the bad and sad news or get ignored by netizens, because to be honest, it’s not that exciting. Sometimes, the good news gets brushed away by those netizens who always makes comments that adds some sinister twist to the good stories so it doesn’t move people. Like they’re always being cynical.
On that one site, Chinasmack, they may have a lot of articles regarding immoral to amoral acts of Chinese citizens, while it’s true, those stories get posted and demanded more because they tend to get more attraction. Occasionally, they do post articles with Chinese citizens performing decent deeds (not just for publicity), so they do exist.
m_wei

in other news: bad news sell papers and the sky is blue ^_^
http://www.facebook.com/emily.dzenowski Emily Elaine Dzenowski

I wish this incident was more geared toward people helping people. Yes the guy is American and the lady is Chinese, but thats not what I took away from it. I see a man helping a homeless woman. Whats wrong with that? Just recently a woman in China convinced a young man from committing suicide – I took away the same message from that story as I did this one.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

That would be nice if more people thought like that but unfortunately there’s quite a lot who taken an extra step with the whole nationality thing.

It’s not just in Asia, but the same thing happens in the US. Like there will be stories of people this or that deed (good or bad), but if the participants happen to be of a different background (racial, religious, etc.) then yeah unfortunately there’s going to be people who look at it more than it should be.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

This story tells you something about the mentality of the chinese public. If this were a chinese person or non-white foreigner sitting with the begger you can be sure it wouldn’t be as big a story. Many chinese (not all) have a severe inferiority complex towards foreigners (aka white people). They like stories like this because it further reinforces the belief that foreigners have higher character than chinese. I’ve heard this myself from chinese people, to which I just shake my head. Other examples I’ve witnessed while in China include Chinese smiling at white faces while not at other chinese, feeling ashamed they can’t speak english well even though they’re in China and not an english speaking country, being overly polite to foreigners, and so many other things. Truely pathetic. The only reason China is so relavent on the world stage is because of their huge population.

If China ever wants to be a true world power like the U.S. they must find a way to discard the inferiority complex they harbor in their hearts.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

But like adding on to my previous comments, sometimes it’s a matter of whatever can get people’s attention. I mean, had there been different circumstances or characters, there’s a good chance that “French Fry brother” may or may not have gotten much attention or awareness about helping people.

For example, on Chinasmack a while back, there was a story about an old man who passed away naturally in a busy public venue (I think a train station, he was slumped in a chair so it would have looked like he was sleeping), people didn’t noticed but a monk (a real monk in traditional garb) was helping to take care of it until the authorities arrived. When those pictures and story came out, there were a lot of comments praising the act, but went further with statements talking about how religious people are more such and such and a bunch of things that are slightly relevant. However think about this, had the characters and circumstances been different, it may not have gotten much attention or awareness of anything.
Like 1.) if it wasn’t an old man, or a busy public venue, or if the death wasn’t natural, etc. People’s reactions or reflections would be different. Or 2.) if it wasn’t a monk but the coroner or some health official attending the body, then yeah, there may or may not have been much attention or awareness because of that.

However, because all those factors were present, like dead body in public place with people not noticing but a monk took care of it, all those points added together touch people’s minds and hearts, and made some people reflect on properly taking care of the dead or paying attention to their surroundings.

Yeah, people shouldn’t get caught up over “french fry brother’s background” with his Caucasian appearance overshadowing the act of kindness, but sometimes it takes little details like that to catch people’s eyes and ears and move them.
Michael Jones

You seem overly insecure. You have a habit of attacking black people in your comments to feel better about yourself.

Learn to love yourself first, then you won’t feel the compulsive need to put others down.
m_wei

the whole point is that had “French Fry Brother” not been “laowai” then would this had gotten the media attention it did?

I knew of plenty of Chinese samaritans who gave much more than some fries – there are even entire Chinese charities out there that never would’ve gotten this kind of attention on Chinasmack.
m_wei

I think the US media is much much more cynical and nefarious than medias from other countries – at least they show people to have humanity instead of the constant barrage of USA superiority complex antics
m_wei

thanks for your internet psychiatric analysis. I never knew that!

I love myself every night, more than you can imagine ~_^
m_wei

could this be damage control for the backlash for that UK rapist guy that exploded online?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

True
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

I think it’s because of the exposure factor.
Like some Chinese people just simply don’t have that much interaction with Western foreigners and whenever they see them, all they have is stereotypes (like the West is better in everything, etc.) or whatever they can imagine.
I’ve seen this among locals in other countries who don’t have much interactions with Americans or Asians.

I mean, if you all hang out with Sea Turtles, returnee students or even the Chinese (male and female) who have married or dated Western foreigners, the ones who have spend some time with them, most (but not all) kind of have a more balance view towards the the people in the West.

lol, there were a few times where I’ve heard a lot of trash talking about White people from the Chinese women and men whose other half was White. I mean, there’s no real evil intention it’s just venting steam. It’s complicated.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

But like sometimes, SOME of the people who feel inferior are by nature timid and have the attitude of don’t-want-no-problem. Like on the outside, it would appear they lack confidence or ashamed, but like that’s who they are. Most likely, they will feel inferior towards their own people, not just foreigners.

For those people who are like that by nature, there’s probably countless reasons why and many methods of trying to overcome their issues.
m_wei

in the larger cities they had more exposure to laowai of all varieties, but to think that laowai are better and not just the same as people of other backgrounds and cultures is mind numbing.

I get that they aren’t as media savvy as people like us who are constantly exposed to mass media in the west, but it’s just sad to see white people put on pedestals and other Asians treated like dirt.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

If you knew chinese people at all you would know that there’s no way that could be the reason, this mentality has been going on long before that story broke.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

Ahmed, actually I find that even many Chinese who have had significant interactions with foreigners (all races) still have this attitude that white is superior. I’m talking about chinese who’ve immigrated to the US over 10 years ago. They still have this attitude. There’s really no way to measure it compared to chinese living in China but I would say this attitude is prevelant throughout the Chinese community whether it be in China or overseas. Yes it really is sad but that’s the result of western imperialism over the last few hundred years.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

Not to disagree with you but yeah I do see some, SOME, who have lived overseas still have a lingering white superior attitude. I’m concurring with you that it should be mainly because of Western dominance over the last few centuries.

But I’ve interacted with a lot of Chinese people (from China), who lived more than 10 years ago and for many years in the West (not just US, but also Canada, Australia and UK) that have balanced views. Like over a period of time, a lot of their fantasies about the West have gotten more realistic.
At least it’s the people that I’ve been around, I’m not sure about who you met.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

I think I should plan a trip to China, and see things myself.

There’s only so much I can sense from the media/blogs and from word of mouth from friends and acquaintances.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

I guess it’s hard to measure if chinese living in the west have more balanced views but if they do it’s just marginally more balanced than those who’ve lived in China their whole lives. I’ve also met many asians who were born and raised in the US who are still incredibly naive when it comes to race relations (ex. always putting whites on a pedestal and darker colored people on the bottom)

I also do my part to educate recent immigrants about the reality of life in America as I see it. I just tell it like it is and I know many of them are surprised at what I say. It really is a wake up call challenging their long held beliefs of what foreigners are really like.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

Yes you should take a trip to China. Try to stay as long as you can and interact with the locals, not just do touristy stuff. If you can’t speak Chinese and don’t look asian, many Chinese will be glad to practice their english with you and help you any way they can (again a form of racial bias as an asian who can’t speak chinese won’t be treated so kindly, ex. myself). If you’ve never been to a non-western country you’ll be in for a culture shock. It should be interesting for you.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

lol, well I am Chinese myself (ABC with heritage from Southeast Asia) and can partially read the characters and speak some Mandarin (mine is close to the Southern version, like how they do in Taiwan with no rolled tongue and they enunciate the ss-tse-tch more).

I would still be kind of a foreigner I guess. I never went to Asia though just different Western countries so yeah, it would still be out of my comfort zone.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

Yea, that’s kind of true.

Depending on the situations, sometimes I help out the recent immigrants and students too if I can. The Asians born and grew up here I’m sort of less forgiving if they believe in that racial stuff (a lot of times, they’re just joking around, but like a few can be serious about those ideas) , but that also depends on where they live and other factors.
KAMIKAZIPILOT

OK I see, then your experience will definitely be different from say a white or black or other non-asian foreigner, or even myself. Just be prepared for some criticism over how chinese you are (imperfect Mandarin, not knowing all the customs). They kinda expect ethnic chinese to know all these things, although they may cut you some slack.

If you do go, go with an open mind and most importantly don’t be shy or ashamed of your background (some overseas chinese are), then you should have fun.
got_censored

it’s going to be an interesting experience, to say the least.

just be prepared for all kinds of insanity. ^_^

depending on which city you want to go live at for awhile, read up on the relevant info beforehand.

post an email if you want some 411 on our experiences.

good luck and pack lots of diarrhea medicine.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

Thanks I will keep that in mind
http://twitter.com/be_good_be_kind Be Good Be Kind

Asian people need to stop doing this shit, giving white people more spot light. In Western media they denigrate non-white always played up white people. Chinese people need to stop with their white worshiping pitiful ways. If only they know the mentality of white people and how they think of Chinese. Too bad they don’t read the news comment or know any white people. It is sad. That White society constantly mock them to no ends, yet they still give these shit story the spot light. If it had been an Asian American, I am sure they would have ignored it.

8 Asians