BEIJING (SCMP): A six-year-old boy in central China was left alone in a hotel for more than two weeks, touching hotel workers who stepped in to care for him like family.
According to Henan Television, the boy, nicknamed Chengcheng, checked into a hotel in Zhengzhou, Henan province, with his 25-year-old mother, surnamed Yue, in February.
She initially went out at night and returned during the day, but stopped returning in March and left no contact information.
For more than half a month, Chengcheng stayed alone in the hotel room.
He chatted with cleaners, asked them for hugs and often curled up by the window looking outside.
At one point, that drew widespread sympathy online, he asked the room’s smart speaker whether it had parents, before saying: “I want my mum to come back.”
Distressed by his situation, hotel staff took turns looking after him and buying him meals and fruit.
One cleaner, who became especially close to the child, acted as a “stand-in mother”, spending time talking and playing with him each day.
Staff also made public appeals for Yue to return, while local police and community workers joined the search and confirmed the boy’s registered hometown.
On March 24, Yue returned to the hotel and was reunited with her son, who ran into her arms.
She apologised and said illness, fear of passing an infection to him, and mounting debt had driven her to leave him behind.
Chengcheng comforted her: “Mum, I do not blame you. I can take care of myself.”
“I am a little man. I want to grow up quickly and protect you.”
With help from local authorities, the pair were later taken back to their hometown.
Before leaving, Chengcheng said he did not want to part with the hotel staff.
He was seen wiping away one cleaner’s tears, asking for her phone number and promising to stay in touch.
Yue said she had realised her mistake and promised to work hard, pay the hotel bill and raise her son properly.
One emotional staff member told her: “At first, we all hated you. We just hope you never leave Chengcheng behind again. If you come back to the hotel in future, you can stay for free.”
Mainland media reports said Yue came from a poor family, had a disabled younger sister whose treatment had cost more than 100,000 yuan (US$14,000), and was not married to Chengcheng’s father.
Because of the family’s situation, the local women’s federation reportedly placed Chengcheng temporarily with a foster family in better financial circumstances.
He has since started school, but is attending kindergarten because he had no previous formal education.
Lawyers said Yue may have violated China’s Law on the Protection of Minors.
Beijing lawyer Zhang Huimin said that in serious cases, such conduct could amount to child abandonment, punishable by up to five years in prison.
One online observer said: “Yue gave birth to Chengcheng at just 19. She was still a young girl herself and did not know how to be a good mother.”
While another wrote: “There is no excuse for abandoning a child. I hope she came back not out of fear of public pressure, but because she truly realised her responsibility as a mother.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
