Chain on a little boy a potent symbol of an unjust system and two-tier society

The upsetting photo published around the world just before the Lunar New Year of two-year-old Chen Jingdan chained to a tree in Beijing was loaded with as many misconceptions as it was with shock, desperation, sadness and pity.

Far from being a gross act of child cruelty, Jingdan was restrained by his loving father to keep him safe from child-snatchers who had taken his four-year-old sister only days earlier. It was also a snapshot of China's increasingly volatile two-tier society.

With a mother too sick to look after the boy and his hard-working dad, Chen Chuanliu, an unlicensed pedicab driver too poor to pay for a proper minder or a school place, the cheap and effective padlock and chain were the only option.Chen's only regret was that he had not thought of the tether method earlier to save his daughter, Jinghong, who, according to police, remains missing since her disappearance on January 26.

Cash donations were offered to help the Chens, but overseas benevolence was not required. Home-grown altruism was at hand. A district kindergarten offered a free place to Jingdan for three years, a life-changing break for the family worth 40,000 yuan (HK$45,500).

But acts of philanthropy are not easy to complete on the mainland. 'The biggest problem for Jingdan is that he does not have a Beijing hukou, the permanent Beijing residency document,' explained Mr Pi, the president of the Aibei Kindergarten. 'We're not allowed to let him attend if he does not have the paperwork.'

The photo of the shackled Jingdan changed perspectives. It became a stark metaphor for the Chinese apartheid the household registration system has created.