Changsha Homeless Shelter Unsafe for Homeless

I’m pretty ticked off that I have to take time out of my tropical holiday to post about this, but as soon as I read it I knew I had to post. 

China is currently experiencing the coldest winter in 28 years. Reports of homeless people freezing to death are trickling in, including at least two in Changsha. One reporter, Dai Peng, wanted to find out why this is happening when Changsha (like many cities in China) have resources available to help the homeless. The reporter “was trying to find out why homeless people would rather stay out in the cold, under bridges or in underground tunnels, rather than go to the warm government shelter.” One homeless man  he spoke to said that the homeless shelter made him feel “like a prisoner.” So, donning the clothes of a homeless person and pretending to be deaf, the reported convinced police he was a homeless person and they took him to the shelter. 

According to Dai, “three people at the shelter kicked him to the ground, held his hands behind his back, and trampled on his body so hard he could not move or even take a breath.” The center has (of course) denied any wrongdoing, but Dai says he has video proof on the incident and will release it soon. The picture above is not of Dai, but of another homeless man who was tied up and begging for help. One lawyer, Gan Yuanchun, said that two years ago he saw “saw a homeless boy beaten by rescue center employees on the street of Changsha two years ago.”

In this “communist” country, where everyone is supposed to be taken care of equally, it is routinely the poor, sick, and disenfranchised who are trampled upon. It no longer surprises me; I see it every day.