Why was this Chinese boy tied to a motorbike and dragged naked through the streets?
Internet users outraged by father who says 12-year-old was being punished for stealing money from his family and playing truant
A video of a naked 12-year-old Chinese boy covered in welts being dragged through the streets on the end of a rope attached to his father’s motorbike has sparked outrage online.
The incident happened on a rainy Friday afternoon in Zhaotong, a city in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, according to a report by local news portal Yunnan.cn.
The footage shows members of the public intervening to end the ordeal for the child, who can be shaking with cold.
The angry crowd then ordered the father to remove his jacket and give it to his son, which he did, the report said.
In defence of his actions, the father was quoted as saying that he was punishing the child for stealing 100 yuan (US$15) from the family coffers, spending the previous night playing outside and failing to go to school.
The report said that the father admitted to regularly beating the child – which explained the marks on his body – as he was frequently naughty.
It did not name any of the people involved in the incident, but said the father was a migrant worker from southern China’s Guizhou province.
Police officers arrived on the scene and an investigation is now underway, the report said, without elaborating.
The video sparked much consternation online.
One person said on WeChat that she burst to tears after seeing the child’s ordeal and berated his father for his actions.
Another said the father should reconsider his parenting style.
