Ask anyone standing around in the crowded corridors of Beijing’s Affiliated Children’s Hospital whether they think China should contribute to a bail-out for debt-ridden European countries and they will respond with scornful disbelief.
Here in the dirty, overcrowded wards, visitors can glimpse why there is little enthusiasm in this country for bailing out rich Europeans while most Chinese lack access to even basic social services.
The emergency waiting room resembles a crowded train station in a war zone. The smell of urine hangs where people have relieved themselves on the floor and sick and injured children spill out through the corridors into the parking lot.