Woman sits on man's lap on subway after he refuses to give up courtesy seat

A video showing a woman sitting on a young man's lap on Nanjing's Metro Line 1 after he refused to give up his courtesy seat went viral on social media.

The woman, who claimed to be an elderly person deserving of the seat, asked the young man to vacate it for her.

After an argument the man still refused to give it up, so the woman sat on his lap instead.

Local subway police said that signs indicating courtesy seats for the elderly, pregnant and handicapped are just a reminder for people to give seats to these in need, although it's not a compulsory law. If the seats are empty, ordinary passengers can also use them.

The video has received mixed reaction online, with some netizens shocked by the woman's behavior and others saying her request was reasonable.

One web user commented, "She's trying to take the moral high ground — youth also have the right to be sick or tired. The woman's behavior was indecent."  

Another remarked, "I can understand the woman's request to use the courtesy seat, but her decision to sit on the man's lap was still improper. The footage is too embarrassing."

Someone added, "That woman doesn't look that old to me, she's just exploiting her age to get the seat! But if it happened to me, I would still give it to her — it is not necessary to quarrel for a seat."