Two women in China are being accused of child abuse after they locked a crying toddler in an airplane restroom to “set some rules.” The incident occurred on August 24 during a Juneyao Airlines flight from Guiyang to Shanghai, as reported by Chinese news outlet Sixth Tone.
The 3-year-old, traveling with her grandmother, began crying during the flight. The two women separated the child from her grandmother and confined her in the restroom, claiming it was to help other passengers. The situation gained attention when one of the women, Gou Tingting, posted a video on social media showing her carrying the child into the restroom.
“If you make any noise again, we will leave you here alone,” one of the women warned the crying child, according to the Chinese outlet. Gou portrayed her actions as a selfless effort to protect fellow passengers from the disruptive child. However, the video sparked widespread outrage on social media.
Two passengers on a Chinese domestic flight have landed in hot water after taking a crying toddler away from her grandparents and locking her in a restroom in order to “set some rules.”
The incident went viral across Chinese social media over the weekend after one of the women,… pic.twitter.com/0m4nbrgICf
— Sixth Tone (@SixthTone) August 27, 2024
The footage also showed the other woman telling the child she could leave only if she stopped crying. The airline stated that the child’s grandmother had consented to the two women taking her to the restroom and that they communicated with the child’s mother, who reportedly understood their actions. However, this defense did little to calm the backlash.
Critics on social media condemned the women’s actions, arguing that children cannot control their emotions and that their response was inappropriate. In response to the backlash, Gou defended her actions on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform, explaining that she preferred to act rather than be a bystander. She claimed that the child’s crying was so disruptive that other passengers were blocking their ears with tissues and moving to the back of the plane to escape the noise.
Despite her explanation, the criticism continued, prompting Gou to set her social media account to private. Comments from users emphasized the need for public spaces to be more accommodating for young children, while some defended the women, arguing that some children require discipline.
Wang Xin, the child’s mother, told Sixth Tone that she believes the incident reflects a growing impatience toward young children. “Nowadays, people have a low tolerance for children crying,” she said. “To avoid the problem, I always tried to drive rather than take public transport when my child was young.”
