A branch of the Bank of China in South China's Shenzhen sent a letter of apology to a blind singer Tuesday over an employee not serving the singer a bank card because he was "a person without capacity for civil conduct".
Zhou Yunpeng, a blind singer, said in a Monday evening post on Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo he was very depressed, because an employee at a BOC branch at Shahe refused his application for a bank card.
He was asked three times if he could not see anything at all, and when Zhou said yes, the employee told him she could not receive his application because he was "a person without capacity for civil conduct," according to the post.
A person accompanying Zhou could help read documents for him and they all brought their ID cards, and Zhou told the employee he had bank cards from BOC and other banks, but the worker still refused his application, the post read.
After leaving the BOC branch, Zhou went to a branch of China Merchants Bank where he got a warm welcome, hospitable service and a new bank card.
The post soon became popular among Chinese web users. It has been forwarded more than 9,000 times and web users left more than 6,000 comments on the post, most criticizing the bank for discrimination.
The BOC branch said in the letter Tuesday it has investigated the case and apologized for hurting Zhou's feelings because of their lack of professional ability, and it would take the case as a lesson to improve its services.
Chang Sha, a lawyer at the King & Capital law firm in Beijing, said according to the country's Civil Law "a person without capacity for civil conduct" means a person aged less than 18 or an adult unable to understand their own behavior, and people with visual impairment are not included.
