Foshan driver jailed in toddler hit-and-run case

A man who knocked down a toddler in a hit-and-run case that caused outrage in China has been jailed for three-and-a-half years, state media say.

Hu Jun hit two-year-old Wang Yue on 13 October last year in the southern city of Foshan and drove off.

Security camera footage showed 18 pedestrians and cyclists failing to stop as they passed the little girl lying in the road.

A woman finally came to her aid but the girl died in hospital a few days later.

The report, by Xinhua news agency, said Hu was convicted of "involuntary homicide" by a Foshan court.

He thought he had hit something but did not stop to check, the agency said, citing a court statement.

He received a lenient sentence because he surrendered himself to police and paid part of the toddler's medical expenses, it said.

The accident prompted a public outcry about morality in the country and a discussion about why those who passed by did not stop to help.

The rubbish collector who did help the little girl, Chen Xianmei, was later named a "national role model".

The BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai says a spate of cases in which injured people sued their rescuers is said to have led to people in China being too frightened to intervene.

But some commentators wonder whether China's rapid development and urbanisation has undermined old moral certainties, suggesting that new legislation is, at best, only part of the solution, he adds.