BEIJING – With more than 100,000 pilgrims and visitors expected to attend the annual Xishan Wanshou Palace Temple Fair, authorities thought it would be a good idea to confine the local beggars in one spot.
So, more than 100 beggars from the town of Xishan, in China’s southern Jiangxi province, were placed in a 165-foot-long iron cage during the fair on Sept. 15.
But when pictures of the beggars in the cage were posted on Sina Weibo, China’s most-popular version of Twitter, there was an outpouring of criticism online. Most netizens were furious.
One micro blogger wrote, “It’s just like a zoo. This is trampling their dignity.”
Another blogger sarcastically chimed in, “Our government always boasts that China has the best record on human rights. Before I did not believe that, but today I am convinced. These officials are just too smart, treating people as dogs.”
Others thought the pictures are too ridiculous to be true.
So NBC News called the civil affairs office of Xinjian prefecture government, which oversees the annual fair at the Taoist temple in the town of Xishan, to verify the photos were real. Mr. Wan, head of the civil affairs office, acknowledged that the photos were in fact real and told NBC News that it was the best solution the government could find for the problem so far.
“We had to consider both sides: the pilgrims and the beggars. There are some fake beggars who just want to trick money from pilgrims. We did see the pilgrims were harassed by such beggars in the past. On the other hand, the temple fair is so crowded that beggars might be hit by cars or trampled by the crowd,” said Wan.
