A poor teenager from Southwest China's Sichuan province returned home after he was detained by police in the United Arab Emirates for illegally entering the country with the intention of becoming a beggar to earn money for his family.
The 16-year-old, identified only as Xu, was sent back to Shanghai by the government of the United Arab Emirates, where he took a plane to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, in the wee hours Thursday morning. On that same day, he returned to his home city of Bazhong,Bazhong police said.
On May 26, Xu climbed a tall tree that was high enough to jump fences between eight and 10 meters high before sneaking into the cargo hold of an Airbus A380 passenger plane from the United Arab Emirates parked at Pudong International Airport. After his experience became known, the airport cut down many trees.
He hid in the hold until the jet took off and landed in Dubai more than nine hours later. He was quickly arrested by local police, according to Mian Jinlong, a Chinese interpreter working in Dubai.
It was the first time someone that young managed to illegally enter the United Arab Emirates by hiding in the cargo hold of a plane, said Mian, who acted as a translator for Xu with the police.
Xu told the police that a viral post on social media app WeChat motivated him to go to Dubai. The post claimed that a beggar there could rake in up to 470,000 yuan ($71,400) a month, or 16,000 yuan a day.
It prompted some netizens to joke that they would resign from their jobs and go to Dubai to become beggars.
Xu's family was very poor. Despite opposition from his parents, Xu, who was known as an introvert, dropped out of school in junior high. He became a worker in an electronic product factory in East China's Jiangsu province to support his family, his parents said.
"He gave all the money he earned in the factory to his elder sister and never wasted money," his father said.
Bazhong, in the eastern part of Sichuan bordering Northwest China's Shaanxi province, is one of the least developed areas in Sichuan.
It is common for people to become migrant workers outside the city at a young age, according to Zhang Yingshang, an official with Baimiao township in the city.
In Dubai, after discovering Xu, airport police contacted the Chinese consulate, which offered assistance.
According to the law of the United Arab Emirates, Xu could have been sued for endangering aviation safety and trespassing. Staff at the consulate insisted that Xu was a minor and the government of the United Arab Emirates took his age into consideration.
Police decided not to sue him and sent him directly to Shanghai, said Ma Xuliang, deputy consul general of the Chinese consulate in Dubai.
According to Xu's parents, police in Dubai were kind to their son because he was a minor. They put him up in a nice hotel, showed him around the city, bought him new clothes and gave him $500 before he left.
Ma said Chinese nationals should not be taken in by rumors about begging in Dubai, as the practice is illegal and anyone doing it will be punished.
