Infuriating

Child abuse has once again caused big concern among Chinese netizens after employees at a private day-care center set up by Shanghai-based tourism service provider Ctrip were accused of beating the children in their care, and feeding them wasabi – a hot Japanese mustard. The center was set up for children, aged under three, of Ctrip employees. The parents remained unaware of the abuse until one found bruises on her son’s body and checked surveillance videos going back several months, discovering the alleged long-term abuse. Police have detained four day-care center staff. Ctrip said the center was a third-party service they hired from the local Women’s Federation after their application for a nursery operation permit was refused. Netizens raised suspicions that kickbacks passed between the government-backed federation and the nursery. 

A 26-year-old woman who has moved from North China to Beijing has set up a public solitary confinement room for migrants like her to have space to reflect. The room, around 10 square meters, is in the Caochangdi art district in suburban Beijing, where many grass-roots artists come to pursue their dreams. The woman said she found the pace of life in Beijing too fast and many people have no time to stop and think about the meaning of life. “You’ve spent too much time facing other people, leave some time to face yourself,” she wrote on a blackboard hung on the wall of the room. Most netizens found the move creative and fresh, but few thought it necessary. Some joked that they need a home more than solitary confinement.