China: Railway station asks travellers not to give money to ‘rich’ beggar

Beijing, Oct 31: Authorities at Hangzhou's East Railway Station in China's Zhejiang province made a unique announcement recently. They asked travellers who arrived at the station not to give money to an elderly beggar.

Reason?

The announcement has it that the woman beggar is actually from a wealthy family and advised people not to get persuaded by her story, according to a report in Shanghaiist. A footage about the unique announcement has gone viral on China's social media circles.

Jiang Yinghao, the management ahead at the train station, said the woman, aged 79, earlier used to sell maps at the station but later switched to begging and now makes around 300 yuan (INR 3,173) a day, according to the report. He also said that the woman arrives at the station around 10 am and make the earnings till 8 pm.

Jiang further said the woman lives in a five-story building which is owned by her son who also has a large business and rental properties in Hangzhou.

The accusation was not baseless as it was found later. The woman's son has also admitted that his mother need not beg but he has failed to convince her, the report added. The woman says she doesn't want to remain at home all day and wanted to make enough money to hire a caretaker for herself when she gets even older.

Netizens on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site equivalent to Twitter, said the railway station authorities could find a solution to the problem by giving the elderly woman a job, the Shanghaiist added.