Huang Zhaojing is interviewed by media in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Sunday. [For China Daily]

Before Huang Zhaojing extricated a 4-year-old boy from an alleged kidnapping attempt in downtown Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, the first thought to enter his mind was that he needed to stay calm.

"I had to survey the terrain and come up with a plan (to rescue the boy)," said Huang, who has worked as a security guard in Guangzhou's Haizhu district for seven years.

"I mean, the (suspect) had a knife in his hand and the kid might have been hurt. His life might have even been in danger if I rushed in to rescue him without thinking things over," Huang told media during a news conference on Saturday.

The trouble started on Guangzhou's busy Jiangnan West Street at 3:20 pm on Friday, when, police say, a young man tried to abduct a 4-year-old boy. The scene attracted many onlookers.

"I saw that the (suspect) was pretty thin, and I didn't think he was much stronger than I was," said Huang, who was not working that day.

Huang said he happened upon the incident while walking to a nearby bank office.

"I found that the (suspect) was not being vigilant at all when several pedestrians were walking across the crosswalk to get past him," Huang said.

Once he thought something was amiss, he said, he stood for a few minutes among a crowd of onlookers to see what was happening. He said he then began to walk nonchalantly toward the suspect, giving a wink to the police officers who had arrived. All of a sudden, Huang said, he threw himself on the suspect, holding his right hand in a firm grip and snatching his knife away. A police officer quickly rushed out to handcuff the suspect, Huang said, and the boy was led away by his father.

The police said the suspect, surnamed Chen, is from Luoding city in the western part of Guangdong province. They said Chen, 22, is believed to have drunk alcohol before he attempted to kidnap the boy.

Sources with the Haizhu district branch of Guangzhou Bureau of Public Security said investigators still need to look into what motives Chen might have had in his alleged attempt at kidnapping the boy.

Senior police negotiators commended Huang for his actions.

"If Huang had (made a hasty decision to rush to the boy), the boy might have been hurt by the (suspect), who was on pins and needles," police negotiators said.

The boy's father, surnamed Liu, also had high praise for Huang.

"I really do not know what would have happened to my son without Huang's brave and quick-witted intervention," Liu told local media.

Wang Chongyan, an office worker in Guangzhou, said Huang's story should be widely circulated in the city, which is a commercial hub in South China.

"Everybody in the city should learn from Huang's example," she said on Sunday.

Wang said Huang's story, as well of those of other people who have performed good deeds, will go far toward improving Guangzhou's reputation at home and abroad

Huang, 43, who is from Taiping township of Conghua, a suburb of Guangzhou, is now a hero to many residents.

On Sunday morning, the Guangzhou city government awarded him 10,000 yuan ($1,600) for being a good Samaritan and a certificate.

For his part, though, he said he would prefer to eschew fame and live a quiet life.

In a sign of his modesty, he avoided telling his family and colleagues about what he had done.

The story only came out in the local media, which were asked by the police to help in their attempts to find him on that day.