The following video was uploaded yesterday on popular Chinese video sharing website Youku has already received over 720k views, and 2100 comments spanning 70 pages.
From Youku:
Outrageous! Parents rent out their child to be a child beggar who if did not beg enough would have her tongue cut, ears cut, and be forced to eat feces
Four years ago, 8-year-old Ren Fangfang was taken away from her father for 5000 yuan by Mengtang Village “acrobatic troupe” boss Zhai Xuefeng to “learn acrobatics”.
Once she left, she was gone for 3 years. During this time, the Ren family also received a lump sum of 10,000 yuan cash. One night last year, Fangfang was dressed orderly and delivered back to her family. It wasn’t until the next day that Ren Shangtian discovered that she was missing two large clumps of her hair, that her entire body was covered with scars, that her ears, nose, and tongue had been abused, that there is “a large bulge” on her lower back.
It turns out that during her three years away, Fangfang was forced onto the streets to beg, and if she could not meet her goals she would face beatings. “Used a belt to hit me. Used a nail to prick my hand, until it bled; Picked me up and threw me on the ground, used scissors to cut my ears, nose, and tongue; Also had me eat feces…”
After Fangfang with a body covered with scars returned, Ren Shangtian took her to the hospital for a check-up and upon discovering that there are already aftereffects [emotional trauma] left on the child, he went to find Zhai Xuefeng where he got 22,000 yuan as compensation and even signed an agreement.
How could he bear to let his 4-year-old Fangfang go “learn acrobatics”? Ren Shangtian helplessly said that their family is poor, that sending his child out to “learn acrobatics” was to lesson the burden. As for the 37,000 yuan of money that was obtained through Fangfang, Ren Shangtian says it has already all been spent.
Most of the above description for this video is from an earlier, longer article available on QQ which also has over 2000 comments. This video also currently appears at the top of the special Youku page dedicated to the continuing Chinese netizen campaign to rescue child beggars that we reported earlier this month.
A copy on YouTube:
"At the time, I didn't know (she was being abused)."
"But I can't turn back time."
From Youku:
525811291:
If it were me, I would’ve killed him.
北京奥运会08:
The father is even more the beast!!!!!
灬即日起程灬:
These parents probably found out a little too late~
yzh天河之水:
The person I hate the most right now is this child’s so-called father!!!
zanki雀:
Is this kind of thing something a TMD human could do?!?!? [Doing this makes one] No better than beasts/animals!! Poor child!
yzh天河之水:
First investigate this father’s responsibility/culpability! Why [did he] send his child away [like this]?!?!
红帽子土匪:
What kind of father would do this…renting out their daughter…and to a circus troupe… Beast.
帅克看过:
You [the father in the video] fucking still have enough face to talk [before the camera]? Go get revenge.
Gary加油:
Fuck…this people are truly TM worse than beasts… [and] this child’s parents are also suffocatingly stupid!
wildcat7305:
You as a father still have the face to come forth!? For 5000, you rented out your underage child to an acrobatic troupe for 4 years without checking up on her, showing just how selfish and cold-blooded you are inside! You are not fit to be a father~! You and the acrobatic troupe are both garbage!
主流爱鸿基小猪: (responding to 北京奥运会08)
Saying he is a beast is an insult to beasts!
矛盾对立因素:
What kind of parents [are these]? Even renting out their children? And they have the face to talk about it? That child must hate her parents to death.
尚美服帽:
Dog fart parents, if you’re not going to raise them up properly after giving birth to them, then why did you have them in the first place? And you even have the face to talk about it. Looking at your age, your must be yet another bastard who prefers sons over daughters. How come you didn’t rent out a boy? You must have a lot of children at home.
蛋花面:
That the child suffered so much indignities the father bears the most guilt. If it was to find a way for the child to eat, why didn’t you go work harder? Renting out the child is truly inhuman!
随处荡的风:
Ren Shangtian, you’re a TMD beast. What do you mean you didn’t know? As long as someone gives you money, you’re able to do any shameless thing! You’re not fit to be a father!
qweewqvb:
This JB father [definitely] knew [what would happen] and still had her go I think just to get some money. The abuser deserves to die. The parents of the abused deserve to die even more.
bleakwind:
Fuck, sold your own child and you still have the face to talk about it.
tql2002:
Why would they send away their child if it were not because their family is poor and they wanted to give the child a way out [alternative, opportunity]?
tongtong仝仝:
Parents definitely love/care for their children, [so] Daddy Ren must have had a predicament [to have done what he did]. What he did is of course wrong, but Daddy Ren must not have known that person would treat his daughter that way. When he first sent his daughter away, he must have felt very bad too, believing it was for his daughter’s good, never imagining that…. Really, if you’ve never experienced poverty, how would you know that life is like?
sasassas3333:
This man is garbage, go to hell, doing this for just 1500 kuai, how come you don’t tell your wife to go sell herself?
動物管理員:
Looking at this…we have absolutely no right to say Japanese people are perverted/sick!
世间变态: (responding to sasassas3333)
Wife at most 150 [kuai].
tianse:
What they do abroad is have family members who have the means to raise the child or send the child to “orphanages/children’s homes” and similar institutions, providing a healthy learning and living environment, stripping the parents of their guardianship and custody rights!
wokao0246:
A social problem/issue. No job, child can’t afford to go to school, the father must not have thought that it would end up like this.
hhhhdhhhh: (responding to sasassas3333)
He already explained, he had lent her to learn acrobatics, to make a living as a performer, he too didn’t think it was to abuse his child. In China there are still many places where people are so poor they don’t have food to eat. He originally want [her] to learn a skill so she could feed herself… Had he known that his child would end up like this, I imagine he too wouldn’t be so inhuman as to have lent her to that person… [but] without blaming others, it is still his own responsibility/fault. At the end, the host even said so. He is both ignorant of the law as well as the disadvantaged/weak party.
爱上鸡尾酒:
You guys can’t blame Fangfang’s parents. Who with the means [to take care of their child] would “rent” their child to others? Parents without money all want their child to be able to have enough to eat.
67谈话:
Accent sounds like he’s from Henan.
以吟为乐:
What you’re saying is truly spreading seriously unhealthy information, or bluntly corrupting social values. Do you believe renting children should get any level of support? Allowing children who are unable to independently think for themselves to be given to strangers as labor? If you don’t have the ability to raise a child, why have a child to have it suffer? Do we even know if he feels guilty? I know that throughout the entire country there are [government provided] social subsidies, so it couldn’t be to the point where there is no food to eat, or at least not to the point of starving to death, only some difference in living conditions. These days there are a lot of people breaking the law and claiming to be ignorant of the law to evade responsibility, but regardless of whether or not one is ignorant of the law, just on concepts of morality alone, what kind of behavior [good or bad, right or wrong] do you believe this renting out of children belongs to? Does this have anything to do with ignorance of the law? If murder weren’t illegal, does that mean you can just go around killing people? Your thinking I feel is extremely ridiculous.
黄大闲:
Her parents should definitely be blamed. First, if you aren’t sure you have the ability to raise a child, why are you having children? Second, a parent never harms their own children, and this is him not hurting the child himself but allowing another person to hurt the child. And now he’s pretending [to be innocent, righteous], bullshit. Second, a child that small is best kept with the parents. Since you’ve rented her out, you should have already considered what unexpected situations there could be. But didn’t you accept them at the time? And you didn’t sign any paperwork. Third, the parent didn’t even know exactly where the child was, I don’t know how this father acted like one. Even if he was so poor that he had no choice, shouldn’t he have at least gone to check on his child? And if while checking on his child he discovered this kind of situation, he should have immediately reported it to law enforcement.
g1101:
Those who say the parents aren’t human are all people who have never experienced poverty.
xuan6357:
To put it simply, if the little girl’s parents had money, would they rent their child for 5000 kuai? Moreover, that was a so-called acrobatics troupe, would the average person think that an acrobatics troupe would do this kind of thing? Make sure you understand clearly before saying anything!
正经阎:
Sigh! Who can understand the helplessness of poor people! If one had money, one wouldn’t do this either.
可怜的芳芳”>Poor Fangfang.
smcqmxl: (responding to above)
No matter how poor you still can’t do this!
The majority of the comments condemn the father.
