Childcare, Chinese style: Two-year-old chained to a post while father works

This incredible sight greeted pedestrians on a street in Beijing today.

A rickshaw driver has taken to chaining his two-year-old son to a post while he goes to work.

Poverty-stricken Chen Chuanliu says he has no other option if he wants to earn a living and keep the youngster safe.

He began padlocking his child to a chain fixed to a painted yellow post after his four-year-old daughter went missing last month.

Chen’s wife is ill, and the couple are unable to afford to send him to school.

So, the father claimed he has no choice but to take his son to work .

No escape: The padlock securing the toddler

And that leaves him with no other resort than to chain the toddler up when he has a passenger.

He said: ‘My wife is ill and I can’t stop work. So I chain him to a pole when I have a fare.

‘It seems harsh but it is better than losing him.’

The two-year-old was spotted chained up by passer-bys outside the Huaguan Shopping Mall in Beijing.

Officials said Chen had been asked four times last year to leave Beijing and return to Sichuan but he had refused.

'At least I can make some money here. If I get sent back to my hometown in Sichuan province, I will have nothing,' he said.

The Beijing district government said it cannot help the family and they will have to rely on charity.

'They are not local residents, so the boy is not entitled to get into a public nursery,' said an official.

'It is actually a social issue for migrant families in Beijing. We have migrant children's schools in the capital but not nurseries.'

The family live in one dingy, bad-smelling room 9ft by 8ft room, full of children's clothes donated by neighbours.

'He is a good man and treats his children well, so many people would love to help the family,' one neighbour said yesterday.

It is not known what became of Chen’s missing daughter. Child snatching is rife in China where strict laws limit the size of families.

Chen Chuanliu insists chaining up son Lao Lu is for his own good

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