Officials apologize for offending dumpster warnings

GUIYANG - Local officials of Bijie city, Southwest China's Guizhou province, have apologized to the public for dumpster warnings that offended local people.

Warnings painted on dumpsters in Heguantun township, Qixingguan district that read "People or livestock, Keep out" have aroused attention from around the country, with some holding that the warnings are "insulting."

Gao Dan, head of Heguantun township, Qixingguan district, on Thursday used his personal Tencent microblog to issue a public apology for the 12 dumpsters painted with the warnings.

"I understand that the inappropriate warnings on the dumpsters hurt the public's feelings. I sincerely apologize for that," Gao wrote.

Hu Shulong, deputy chief of the Qixingguan district, admitted that the warnings reflected the township government's lack of a sense of responsibility.

On Friday, the warning had been painted over with the characters for "Garbage comes in, healthy and civilized."

A photo of the dumpster warnings had been commented on and forwarded 132,144 times by Friday morning, after it was posted on Weibo.com, China's Twitter-like microblogging website on Wednesday afternoon.

Netizens consider the warning "insulting," as there is a connotation of apposing stray children with street animals.

The offending warnings put once again Bijie city at focus of the public a month after five street children died in dumpsters in the city.

Dumpsters in Bijie served as the kids' last refuge against bitter winter cold before they were killed by carbon monoxide from the charcoal they were burning for warmth.

"Stray children would not have entered dumpsters if they had other nice shelters to hide out, and animals can't read the warning signs. So what's the purpose of painting the warning?" was the message of many of the Internet comments.

The warning signs painted in red were one of the measures taken by the local authority in handling the aftermath of the incident.

The death of the five street kids in Bijie has profoundly saddened Chinese, as it has been interpreted as a sign that the nation has failed to give sufficient care to its youngsters while gaining in economic strength.

These minors wandering the street were identified as "left-behind children," or kids who are taken care of by relatives such as grandparents while their parents pursue work in cities.

Reporters who located the children's homes after their deaths found that the rundown houses were utterly destitute; "no better than the dumpsters," as some put it.

After the tragedy, Qixingguan District, which is home to hundreds of such "left-behind children," has set up aid stations and launched 24-hour patrols along major roads to look for stray kids and bring them to shelters.

Chen Changxu, mayor of Bijie, said the city government will budget 60 million yuan ($9.62 million) annually to attend to the city's "left-behind children."