Zu has just returned from Shenzhen and told me that the city is now crawling with beggars despite being far more advanced than his last visit three years ago. He described scenes of women feeding from the garbage with young children asleep on their laps. But the truth is that these women planted their own packets of rice on the pile of garbage and pretended to eat rubbish, according to his Chinese associates.

I ran a check on the web and found some depressing information regarding the exploitation of children in China’s begging circuit. This article “Beggars Inc.” indicated that some of the children might be rented and even probably drugged in order to prevent them from struggling. How despicable! It also appears that many of these children could be abducted since China has major trafficking problem as reported in Radio Free Asia.

So the next time you head to China and see beggars with children, don’t succumb to donating, no matter how pathetic they look. The truth isn’t always what you see.