Fang Hua

Voc.com.cn

The regulation was made based on the premise that not everyone has the high ethical standards.

China's Property Law states that the owner should pay the finder or relevant authority the expense they spent to keep the lost property. Based on the law, the regulation by Guangdong Province specifies the details of how a finder should deal with lost property, how an owner could get it back, and how much a finder should be rewarded. I think it is positive.

It is unrealistic to regard everyone as a saint with perfect moral integrity. While there are many virtuous people in society, the majority are ordinary human beings who may sometimes be selfish. So we cannot expect the majority to act like saints. The code of conduct of a society should not be set up based on the moral minority but on the humanness of the ordinary majority.

AGAINST

Jin Zhen

Scol.com.cn

Asking the owner to reward the finder with cash is against Chinese traditional virtue. Admittedly, as materialism grows, it is necessary to some extent to reward finders who return lost property to the owners. But I don't think the incentives should be in the way of cash, which makes it seem that people did good things for material gains, not because of their personal virtuous behavior. Moreover, as the reward is a voluntary act according to the regulations, will the owner be punished for refusing to pay the finder?

Why not reward the finders with certificates that can be used in job hunting or as discounts when buying a house, etc. That type of incentive is more acceptable and can promote virtue as well.

Wan Xiaoyang

Jxcn.cn

It is universally acknowledged that returning lost property to its owner is a virtuous act. In a world full of material desires, virtue is a scarce commodity and it is important for the public to maintain this pure value.

People hand over what they have found because of what is in their heart, not because of seeking a reward. If the finder is looking to make money they can sell the found item instead of relying on the 10 percent reward from the owner. In fact, many people hold the principles of Chinese traditional virtue high and will hand over the lost property even they are taxi drivers or cleaners who lead a hard life. The regulation will not promote virtue but only tarnish the virtue of the truly noble in society.

Wang Jie

Company employee

I don't think the regulation will encourage people to hand over lost property, but only distort virtue. Giving back instead of appropriating lost property is a matter of morality. And whether the owner rewards the finder or not depends on his or her moral quality and financial capability. But if law stipulates the reward, even though it is voluntary, it will put those who don't want to give rewards in a position of moral disadvantage. Because of the material rewards, the owner will not be grateful to the finder and take it for granted that their lost property should be returned. The finder's delight at the integrity of having lost property returned will also disappear.

And it will be difficult to implement the regulation. For example, if the lost property is documents, certificates or IDs, how will their value and percentage reward be determined?