Opinion | Outcry as another migrant worker dies in Zhengzhou

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A migrant worker found dead on the street in Zhengzhou. SCMP Photo: Screenshot from Sina Weibo

Published: 3:21pm, 13 Dec 2012Updated: 3:52pm, 24 Dec 2012

Following the death of migrant worker Liu Hongwei last month, another worker was found dead under the same bridge in Zhengzhou on Thursday. Zhengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau has responded to the incident but was yet to identify the cause of his death, media reported.

Lijiao Bridge on Jiefang Road is given the name “Grand Hotel Bridge” by many migrant workers who take shelter under there, unwilling or unable to afford proper housing.

The middleaged worker’s death was first disclosed on the internet by a Weibo user who claimed to have seen the homeless man dead while picking up a friend.

According to witness, the man had been squatting on the stairs at a nearby restaurant for three days before his death, refusing to accept offers of help or money from a female sanitation worker.

The deaths quickly gained attention on the internet. Many Chinese internet users responded with scornful comments about inadequate social assistance and lack of a welfare system in China. “No matter who he is, a man should not be frozen to death on the street!” said one Sina Weibo user.

Another opined, “The most important thing in the world is to make sure our citizens have access to necessities. With China’s power today, it should not be a hard thing to achieve. The priority of government officials should be to save people from cold and hunger. Incidents like this is a shame to the people of China.”