A young migrant worker who saved an infant from a 20-metre fall in Guangzhou has become the latest person to be lionised in a national propaganda campaign to counter a perceived lack of Good Samaritans on the mainland.
Zhou Chong , 23, has been showered with rewards, offered jobs by state-run enterprises and repeatedly asked to recount how he rescued a three-year-old girl he saw dangling by the neck while he was on his way to a job interview earlier this month.
He has had his face splashed across Guangdong's newspapers and television broadcasts. He was sent to Beijing to meet Politburo members, including propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, who dubbed him 'a hero of our era'.
Zhou joined a line-up of everyday heroes being built by propaganda authorities. The effort aims to foster positive media coverage ahead of the 18th National Party Congress this autumn, when the central leadership will hand over power to a new generation.
Other examples include Zhang Lili , a 29-year-old teacher in Heilongjiang province, whose legs had to be amputated after she pushed two children out of the path of an oncoming bus, and Wu Bin , a bus driver in Zhejiang province who managed to steer his passengers to safety after he himself was fatally hit by a metal object that smashed through his windscreen.
There was also Zhou Yulan , a teacher in Hubei province , who risked her life to protect 659 college entrance exam admission cards during a robbery.
