Guangdong orphanage's misuse covered up with children 'borrowed' from temple

A 17-year-old government-funded orphanage in eastern Guangdong never took in any orphans and was instead used as a local government office and dormitory for officials, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The scandal was exposed after a public outcry triggered by an earlier report saying that local officials had "borrowed" orphans from a temple in an attempt to fool senior officials who arrived to inspect government-run orphanages in the area.

Xinhua said the Rongcheng district government in Jieyang built the five-storey orphanage 17 years ago, but used the building as a civil affairs office handling funerals, marriage registrations and disability issues, and as a staff dormitory.

More than 115 local orphans were left without proper care as a result and had to live at a Buddhist temple or with local families. Most still lacked proper household registration documents, or hukou.

The authorities have launched a campaign to inspect public and private orphanages following a fire at an illegal, private orphanage in Lankao, Henan province, in which seven children died.

When told that inspectors would be arriving, Huang Jianwei , a representative of Rongcheng's civil affairs bureau, was sent to the local Zifeng temple to borrow orphans in an attempt to cover up the misuse of the building and the government's negligence, according to footage posted online. Huang is seen in the video asking the temple's 66-year-old Buddhist master Shi Yaogai for orphans to show that the district had a functioning orphanage.