Police arrest child abuse suspects

Police in Beijing’s Yanqing district on Thursday arrested two employees of a rehabilitation center for children suffering from hearing impairment on suspicion of child abuse.

After Weibo user Youshangdeshaoxiao on Wednesday posted photos and videos and accused the Mingsheng Hearing Rehabilitation Center of child abuse, authorities began to investigate the allegation, the Yanqing district government said on its Weibo account on Thursday.

Online photos show dark and messy rooms, beddings with excrement and a young woman sitting on a crying child on the ground. A video shows a woman poking a boy with a broomstick.

The net user claimed that the materials are from a Weibo follower, who claimed to have interned at the center which accommodated more than 30 children with hearing difficulty, infantile autism or mental retardation. The intern accused the center of beating children, embezzling food donated by charities, not attending to the minors and defaulting payment to employees.

Ba Enzhou, one of the center’s investors, confirmed with Sichuan-based Red Star News that the photos were taken at the center but did not show the whole picture.

The photos and videos were uploaded by a former employee who left the center without proper procedures with the company. The employee failed to teach the children how to use a toilet, and that’s how photos of dirty beddings were taken, Ba told media.

The photos sparked uproar among netizens, who urged a thorough investigation and strict punishment.

A teacher at a private kindergarten in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong Province, told the Global Times on Thursday that industry regulations are lax, especially among private kindergartens and those in less developed regions.