Warning on dumpster: 'Entry forbidden for humans and animals, enter at your own risk', as response of Chinese officials to the five boys' dumpster death last month in Guizhou

Chinese officials paint warnings on street dumpster: No entry for humans and animals, enter at your own risk! in Heguantun Town, Bijie city, Guizhou province, Dec. 19, 2012, as a response to the last month tragedy that five homeless boys were suffocated to death when burning charcoal to keep warm in a dumpster in Bijie on the rainy night of November 16, 2012.

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The deaths of five boys in a dumpster in Bijie city, Guizhou province, last month has heightened concerns over the plight of China’s vagrant children.

The five homeless children died in a dumpster on a cold rainy night in Bijie city, without enough clothes to keep themselves warm. An official investigation reported that they kept a fire burning inside the trash box to keep themselves warm, but died from carbon monoxide poisoning instead.

One month after the tragedy, officials that had been criticized for ignoring the plight and poor livelyhood of children in their jurisdiction, after thoroughful investigation, find fault with the street dumpsters and take counter measures: paint warnings on all the street dumpsters: “Entry forbidden to humans and animals; enter at your own risk.”

But to their disappointment, their counter measure has not only deeply disappointed the public, but earned them new wave of condemnation, just as the criticism of their indifference to the miserable livelyhood of homeless children has waned down.

“Kids don’t read well; animals are illiterate – only our government can read the slogan. They should be the ones entering the trash bins!” said one Weibo user named @胶东县令

“Bijie: what is more dirty than the trash bins is the slacking at work” said @TV哇哇.

“No entry for humans and animals. How can you compare humans and animals! It is more like new version of ‘No entry for Chinese and dogs‘“, said @叶雨打个酱油

“Dumber than a pig,” cursed a Weibo user.

On the afternoon of Dec. 19, after report on the dumpster warnings has drawn public outcry, authority in Bijie took a quick investigation into the matter. According to the official Xinhua report, a total of twelve dumpsters, all located in Heguantun town, were painted with the slogan. Town mayor Gao Dan openly apologized in response to public outcry.

“I sincerely apologize for the improper words on our town’s trash cans that hurt everyone’s feelings. We will rectify our fault immediately,” he said.

The livelihood of left-behind children in rural Guizhou is worse than most Chinese can imagine

The sequential incidents in Guizhou highlighted the predicaments of China’s millions of left-behind children. A widening wealth gap and rising living costs are dividing increasing numbers of poor rural parents to look for jobs in remote larger cities, leaving their children behind.

According to statistics of Chinese ministry of education, as many as 58 million Chinese children are left-behind children, one or two of whose parents are working in remote areas. Among the 58 million children, 22 million have none of their parents at the side. Some of these children, due to lack of care and tutelage of their parents, end up as vagrant children or homeless children.

Bijie City is a mountainous territory in the northwest of Guizhou Province in southwestern China. Guizhou is one of the poorest hinterland provinces of China. 80 percent of its territory is mountains and hills. As many as 70% of the population lives on hills with very poor transportation conditions. The rapid development of China during the last three decades has changed Guizhou a lot, but compared to coastal areas of China, the change is minimal, especially for those living in rural Guizhou.

It often rains in winter and usually after a rain, it takes a dozen days for the muddy road to dry up. Though the temperature in winter is higher than northern China, the high humidity make people feel even colder than in the north of China.

But it is the indifference and slacking attitude to children of the Guizhou officials that make Chinese public chill.

*Republished with permission from ChinaHug.com