‘Humans and animals prohibited’ printed on Bijie dumpsters, solving homelessness once and for all

Is it too much to hope that whichever official thought it would be a good idea to print “Humans and animals prohibited” on all dumpsters in Bijie will lose their job for suggesting such a tone-deaf, ineffective ‘solution’ to the death in November of five homeless boys sheltering from the elements in a city dumpster?
The ‘Bijie boys’, who suffocated inside a rubbish bin in a grotesque, real life enactment of Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘Little Match Girl’ story, would, it’s fair to say, have climbed in the dumpster regardless of any sign saying not to. When you’re cold, wet, and desperate enough to see a rubbish bin as an acceptable refuge, petty little signs don’t matter that much.
In it’s utter ass-covering pathetic-ness, “Humans and animals are strictly prohibited to enter. Violators are at their own risk”, is perhaps the epitome of governmental ineffectiveness in China. The sign, reportedly ordered by city sanitation chief Deng Hongmei, benefits no-one but some contemptible official more worried about being held even slightly responsible for the deaths of five children than she was about the children themselves.
The photo of the new sign, which leaped to the top of Weibo’s trending topics within hours of being posted, has led to widespread uproar, and the city government is already backtracking from it.
[Via: Offbeat China]

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