Recent news about China welcoming 10 foreign children for free heart surgeries has triggered anger in Chinese online.
According to the state media Xinhua, in the early morning of March 22, 10 children with congenital heart disease from Kyrgyzstan arrived in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan Province in central China, to start the free “heart repair” journey.
“From Feb. 26 to March 2, four specialists from Henan Provincial Chest Hospital arrived at the Scientific Research Institute of Cardiac Surgery and Transplantation under the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan to screen dozens of children suffering from congenital heart disease.
“They finally identified 10 children who were in serious condition and met the criteria for surgical treatment to come to Henan Province for free. The oldest child is 14 years old and the youngest is just over 3 months old.”
The news backfired on Chinese social media, triggering harsh criticism that the authorities spent money on foreigners while ignoring the predicament of its own citizens.
“Remember to give China’s children this treatment,” reads one comment on Douyin by a user in Zhejiang Province.
A local netizen in Henan Province commented, “If I go there, it’s expected that I can get nothing and even need to wait in a queue.”
Another netizen from Shandong said, “If [the authorities] can not prioritise its own nationals, at least equally treat them [with foreigners]. How dare [they] publicize this?”
Chinese Girl Begs Parents to Stop Treating Her
Meanwhile, a touching video of a 13-year-old girl with leukemia has recently been circulating on Chinese internet and attracted wide attention.The girl, who is also located in Henan Province, invited a blogger to record a video for her, in which she expressed her heartfelt words:
“Mom, don’t worry about treating me anymore. Leave all the money to my younger siblings, I’m not worth it. It’s really enough.”
The girl told in the video that she had been undergoing chemotherapy for more than three years, costing her family more than 800,000 yuan ($110,550). Feeling sorry for her parents’ hard work in borrowing money for herself, she did not want them to spend any more money on her.
She continued that she has a younger brother and sister to take care of at home, and if her family spent all the money on herself, the burden on them would be too heavy.
“It’s too cruel. I can’t listen to it anymore,” reads the Chinese post of Maoshen, an online celebrity on platform X (formerly Twitter) who shared the video and would like to raise donations for the girl.
“This is what happens to the ordinary people after they get sick under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. They can only resign themselves to their fate.”
In response, the girl’s mother said she would never give up on her daughter’s treatment and would borrow money if the family could not afford it.
The stark contrast between the circumstances of the Chinese girl and the 10 Kyrgyzstan children has led to strong criticism by Chinese netizens.
“[The authorities] would rather give [it] to a friendly nation than giving it to its slave,” reads one comment.
“We don’t get free treatment even if we use Huawei,” reads another one.
“How many children are we waiting for surgery in China?” “[You] can’t find 10 children like them in your own country, can you?”
