Social media users sympathized with a Chinese mother who was filmed hitting her son in public after he lost their 5 yuan ($0.79) metro ticket on Wednesday while riding the Nanchang subway system.
The clip, which was filmed by one of the commuters and posted on Pear Video, shows the woman aggressively hitting her son on his back as she scolds him in front of the other passengers, according to Shanghaiist.
“You really don’t listen!” the mother yells at her son. “When I tell you not to play, don’t play!”
Commuters tried to ignore the woman as she continued to hit her son, but some of them eventually got involved when she struck the child’s face.
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“He lost the metro ticket. What am I supposed to do?” the mother explained to some of the concerned female commuters who approached.
A few of them suggested buying a new ticket, but the mother admitted that they don’t have enough money.
Concerned passengers tried to argue with the mother that 5 yuan is not that much, but she begged to differ. It turns out that the woman only earns about 900 yuan ($142) per month.
She separated from her husband a long time ago and raises her son by herself, which reportedly costs her about 1,000 yuan ($158).
The woman also explains that she lost her temper and doesn’t normally hit her child. She added that her own mother is very sick at a local hospital and that she and her son were actually on their way to their relatives to borrow money for the upcoming Chinese New Year.
“For you, 5 yuan is important,” one of the passengers said, to which the woman replied that any amount of money is important to them.
Many Chinese netizens expressed their sympathies, with some pointing out this is why people shouldn’t immediately judge until they hear the other side of the story first.
“Really, sometimes you think people are making a big fuss over nothing, but you do not know the difficulties that they’ve been through,” a Weibo user wrote in the comments.
Featured Image Shanghaiist via Medium
