A crying child was locked in a wheelchair by two women in an airplane toilet, sparking an net debate in China about how to treat children in public areas.
After one of the two ladies, Gou Tingting, uploaded a picture of herself carrying the child inside the bathroom, the incident became well-known in China.
In her blog, she presented herself as trying to help people on board, but was quickly met with backlash.
Eventually, the aircraft claimed that the woman’s grandmother had granted permission to “educate her” to the two women.
On a Juneyao Airlines journey from Guiyang to Shanghai on August 24th, the tragedy occurred.
The child, who was travelling with her aunt, had started crying during the trip.
Two days after the incident, the flight announced in a statement that the girl’s mother who was traveling with her had agreed to allow two people use the restroom.
According to Ms. Gou’s account, a video that she posted on Chinese social media showed the other lady telling the girl to leave the bathroom just after she cried.
Local media accounts say she was a one-year-old, though the airport has certainly given information.
Soon after she posted the movie, backlash was sharp, with some criticising Ms Gou for lacking compassion and “bullying” the kid.
Responding to the censure, Ms Gou said she “prefers to take action rather than be a witness”.
” I just wanted to relax the child over and let everyone rest”, she wrote on Douyin, China’s parallel of TikTok.
She added that some people “moved to the back of the plane to avoid the noises,” while people” stuffed cell documents into their ear.”
Ms Gou’s bill has since been set secret.
When a child is one or two decades old, they are unable to manage their feelings. What’s bad with crying? Did n’t you cry when you were young too”? one person wrote on Weibo.
Another person expressed concern for the girl’s psychological effects, saying that” we should be thinking about how people spaces can better take and accommodate fresh children.”
Some people, however, argued that the women’s actions were justified because the woman’s grandmother had given her assent.
” To be honest, some babies cannot do without some knowledge”, a Weibo users wrote.
There is a growing debate over how to deal with what China refers to as “bear kids,” spoilt young children who cause a stir in public places like screaming or causing damage to public property.
The phrase “bear” being used in this example suggests that some Chinese people believe some kids may behave in a wild manner.
Some people trains now have individual children’s compartments in operation.
And elsewhere in the universe, there are divergent opinions on this. South Korea, for instance, has designated lots of children-free areas in cafes, museums and theatres.
However, lawmakers have demanded that the government remove these areas, citing the need to create a community that is more accepting of children, especially as the nation struggles with a small birthrate.
International carriers, including Turkish-Dutch ship Corendon Airlines and Singapore-based Scoot, offer the option for people to pay more to be seated in a child-free area.