Fight

After watching badminton, we tried to find some food. We wandered around the shopping center. A few guys went to Starbucks to get a map of Beijing since the Starbucks maps were the easiest to use and folded up nicely. The rest of us turned the corner and came across a fight. H. immediately started yelling "Fight! Fight!" and ran towards it. As she got closer, she motioned towards us, saying we had to stop it. N. ran forward too. When I got closer, I saw a man with a stick hitting another man on the ground. When he stopped, H. ran forward and gave the injured man some bottled water. The injured man stood up and stumbled a few feet. The other man returned and kicked him in the head. Two of the kicker's friends held him back. The injured man again got up and eventually fell in the bushes. Meanwhile H. and N. were arguing with the aggressors, who called them foreigners and told them to go home. The whole time, a group of about 20-30 people stood by and watched. H. called A. and told him to come over, but all he heard was that N. was in a fight. Pretty soon after he arrived, friends of the injured man arrived as did an ambulance.

The whole event was pretty sick. I've lived a sheltered life and that was the most violent thing I've ever witnessed in person. The hits and kicks were to the head and were delivered by people who knew what they were doing. This wasn't some drunken fight between two idiots outside a bar. What are you supposed to do in this situation? I'm really proud of H. and N. for stepping in. I didn't have the courage to do that. At least this wasn't in the US, where I'd be afraid someone was going to pull a gun. Of course, in the US, I could call 911 and trust that whoever came would actually try to help.