Shanghai Women's Federation under fire for being involved
Shanghai police detained three people from a day-care center, affiliated with ctrip.com, China's largest online travel agency on Wednesday for abusing children under their guardianship, the police said on Thursday after the case caused an uproar in society.
The Changning district police have detained three people suspected of abusing children after getting tip-offs from ctrip.com on Wednesday. The case is under investigation," the Changning district police said in a statement on Thursday.
The day-care center was closed temporarily after the incident, media reported.
Videos of teachers abusing children in the day-care center, affiliated with ctrip.com were uploaded Wednesday, sparking the uproar. One of the videos shows a woman knocking a girl on a chair, undressing her and smashing her bag on the floor. Another video shows a teacher forcing a child to eat what some parents claimed to be wasabi.
Ctrip.com and a day-care center affiliated with the readers service department of a magazine, Modern Family, jointly opened the day-care center in 2015 to take care of children of ctrip.com employees and it was suspended for not getting administrative authorization in February 2016, the Beijing News reported.
The day-care center is offering to take care of children 1- to 3-years-old and "will offer the most professional care," read an advertisement for the center promoted by ctrip.com.
Employees from ctrip.com told the Beijing News that the day-care center managed to get permission later, but they failed to give any further information.
Modern Family magazine is affiliated with the Shanghai Women's Federation.
Peng Xiaoming, from ctrip.com's publicity bureau, confirmed with the Global Times that the Shanghai Women's Federation recommended the magazine to help ctrip.com manage the day-care center.
The Shanghai Women's Federation said in a statement on Thursday that the day-care center affiliated with the magazine is an independent entity and it apologized for the incident.
"Employees involved in the case have been fired… In line with our responsibilities for the children and parents, we vow that we will conduct a thorough investigation and will fully cooperate," the federation said, admitting its liability.
Ctrip.com issued an apology for the "gross negligence of some teachers at the day care center" on Wednesday.
A parent whose child was fed half a tube of wasabi in half a hour, cried that her daughter was 17-months-old and suffered from diarrhea, the Beijing News reported.
The public apology made by ctrip.com and the Shanghai Women Federation did not stop the public outrage, with many netizens calling for a boycott of the travel agency.
Many people criticized the federation for recommending the day-care center and also questioned the viability of it.
During a press conference, ctrip.com held on Wednesday, one of the teachers appeared in the video kneeling down, begging for pardon in front of angry parents.
