Ill beggar in China chains twin sons to himself

BEIJING – A beggar chained his two children to him while he panhandled outside a Beijing train station during the Labour Day holiday, sparking concern among passers-by that the children were being mistreated, or were the victims of human-trafficking, Beijing Youth Daily reports.

Photos that circulated online showed two infants chained to the waist of the father, who was wearing a mask. He had placed a letter beside his begging box that said he had leukaemia and had to beg to support his family and pay his medical bills.

A passer-by called the police after suspecting the man was using kidnapped children to win sympathy. An initial investigation by the police showed the two-year-old twin boys were the man’s children.

The beggar, 26, told the newspaper the train station was so crowded during holiday that he was worried his boys would get lost or abducted. “I’m too weak to catch up with the boys if they run away,” he said. The man, who comes from a village in Anhui, said his wife abandoned the family shortly after his diagnosis, so he had to take the boys with him when he went to Beijing to see doctors.