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Yesterday I witnessed the drastic amount of poverty in China. I watched as a man with Downs-syndrome picked up plastic bottles for money. Other Chinese citizens threw bottles out of their vans at him, rather than walking them over to him. One of the Scholars gave the man an American dollar, which is about 6 yuan. It would be enough to feed him for a day.
On the subway, I watched as a mother begged for money for her crippled son. She was packing him and his legs were completely mangled. Immediately after getting off the bus there were lines of people playing music, old beggars, and handicapped asking for money. Some handicapped sell things but others are so mangled they can not. China overlooks these people, disrespects them, and does not care.
I watched as one old man was carried away by the cops out of the subway. This is a daily occurrence. I watched as one man rolled himself down the street by using large bricks to catapult the wagon he was on. His sign said, "Down with the communist party of China." No one could give him money for fear that they might be taken away. The typical attitude of Chinese is that this man was crazy because no one would act like that.
I watched as people that were born with a height disability played music and were ignored. I watched another short old lady with a hunchback be pushed aside as she was picking up plastic bottles. There is no respect for the less fortunate. They are expected to survive on their own or to die.
I heard a story about one more mistreatment in China. I heard about an old man who had been blinded by his parents at a young age. They purposely made him blind so that he could become a beggar. Apparently, this is a common occurrence by many families from the country. By this process, giving money to those who are injured encourage these acts of injustice to occur. However, the government does not help these disabled citizens. What would you do if you knew you had the money to help one of these people but also knew that by helping them you were encouraging other parents to cripple their own children? Help feed one a person for a day or discourage parents from crippling more children and let the person die? It's a tough choice... but one that is forced upon the people walking through China's main streets and subways.
Kurtis Frizzell, from the PRC, May 25
On the subway, I watched as a mother begged for money for her crippled son. She was packing him and his legs were completely mangled. Immediately after getting off the bus there were lines of people playing music, old beggars, and handicapped asking for money. Some handicapped sell things but others are so mangled they can not. China overlooks these people, disrespects them, and does not care.
I watched as one old man was carried away by the cops out of the subway. This is a daily occurrence. I watched as one man rolled himself down the street by using large bricks to catapult the wagon he was on. His sign said, "Down with the communist party of China." No one could give him money for fear that they might be taken away. The typical attitude of Chinese is that this man was crazy because no one would act like that.
I watched as people that were born with a height disability played music and were ignored. I watched another short old lady with a hunchback be pushed aside as she was picking up plastic bottles. There is no respect for the less fortunate. They are expected to survive on their own or to die.
I heard a story about one more mistreatment in China. I heard about an old man who had been blinded by his parents at a young age. They purposely made him blind so that he could become a beggar. Apparently, this is a common occurrence by many families from the country. By this process, giving money to those who are injured encourage these acts of injustice to occur. However, the government does not help these disabled citizens. What would you do if you knew you had the money to help one of these people but also knew that by helping them you were encouraging other parents to cripple their own children? Help feed one a person for a day or discourage parents from crippling more children and let the person die? It's a tough choice... but one that is forced upon the people walking through China's main streets and subways.
Kurtis Frizzell, from the PRC, May 25