Two women flyers in China are facing accusations of child abuse after they locked a crying toddler in an airplane restroom to “set some rules.” The incident occurred on August 24 during a Juneyao Airlines flight from Guiyang to Shanghai, according to Chinese news outlet Sixth Tone.
The 3-year-old child, who was traveling with her grandmother, began to cry during the flight. The two women in question separated her from her grandmother and confined her in the toilet, claiming they were trying to help other passengers. The situation escalated when one of the women, identified as Gou Tingting, posted a video on social media showing herself carrying the girl into the restroom.
Two passengers on a Chinese domestic flight have landed in hot water after taking a crying toddler away from her grandparents and locking her in a restroom in order to “set some rules.”The incident went viral across Chinese social media over the weekend after one of the women,… pic.twitter.com/0m4nbrgICf
— Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) August 27, 2024
‘Will leave you here’
“If you make any noise again, we will leave you here alone,” one of the women can be heard telling the wailing child, according to the Chinese outlet. In her post, Gou described her actions as a selfless attempt to shield fellow passengers from a disruptive child. However, the video quickly sparked widespread outrage.
The footage included the other woman telling the child she could only leave if she stopped crying. The airline stated that the child’s grandmother had consented to the two ladies taking her to the restroom, and they communicated with the child’s mother, who reportedly understood their actions. However, this defence did little to quell the backlash.
Backlash
Critics on social media expressed outrage, arguing that children cannot control their emotions and that the women’s actions were inappropriate. Gou defended her actions on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform, stating that she preferred to take action rather than be a bystander. She claimed that the child’s crying was so disruptive that other passengers were blocking their ears with tissues and had moved to the back of the plane to escape the noise.
Despite her explanation, the backlash continued, leading Gou to set her social media account to private. Comments from users highlighted the need for public spaces to better accommodate young children, while others defended the women, arguing that some children require discipline.
Wang Xin, the mother of the child, told Sixth Tone that she felt the incident showed a growing impatience toward young children. “Nowadays, people have a low tolerance for children crying,” she said. “To avoid the problem, I always tried to drive rather than take public transport when my child was young.”
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