Rail passengers warned about well-to-do beggar
The 79-year-old woman begs at Hangzhou East Railway Station.
Railway passengers file past the elderly woman as she holds her hand out for money.
A video of rail passengers being warned not to be fooled by a beggar has gone viral, CCTV news reported.
Shot at Hangzhou East Railway Station in Zhejiang Province, it shows an old woman begging at the station while a broadcast tells passengers that the woman is from a well-to-do family.
Jiang Yinghao, management chief at the railway station, said the 79-year-old woman had previously sold maps at the city’s Jiubao Passenger Transportation Center and started selling maps at the railway station when it opened in 2013.
But Jiang said that last year she had started begging, which is not permitted, and stays at the station every day until 8pm. Jiang said she could collect about 300 yuan (US$43) a day.
Her son, surnamed Zhang, said he owned a factory, several rental properties and retail stores. Zhang said his mother should have no worries about food or clothing. The family had tried several times to persuade her to stop begging, he said.
The railway station began to play the warning broadcast from this September every time the woman appeared.
Responses to the video online have ranged from suggesting the station offer her a job and moving her by "showing some love."
