SHANGHAI (SCMP): A young boy in northwestern China has amused social media by calling the police to report that a “bad guy”, who turned out to be the youngster’s father, had robbed him of his Lunar New Year lucky money or ang pow.
It is a ritual practice in China that during the New Year holiday period for adult relatives to give minors red envelopes or red packets containing cash to express good wishes for the younger generation.
In many families such gifts from relatives are kept by the child’s parents.
At the beginning of February, police in Lanzhou, Gansu province, received a call from a boy who said: “A bad guy is in my home and he has robbed my money.”
The unidentified boy’s age was not revealed in a report by the news outlet The Paper.
The officer who took the call also heard the voice of a man who was yelling: “You naughty boy, you did call the police!”
Minutes later, when officers arrived at the boy’s home, he cheered and stated by pointing to his father: “Uncle Police, you came so quickly. Please catch this bad person immediately.”
“I am sorry, Comrade Police. My son is not well educated,” the boy’s father told the officers. “I did not expect he would really call the police.”
The father explained that the boy had quarrelled with him over who should keep his red packet money.
The youngster used his father’s mobile phone to call the police.
Their dispute was settled through police mediation.
“You let your father keep the money for you. When you need money, you ask him to give you and record all your expenses, OK?” the officers told the boy.
They suggested the father improve his education methods.
The boy is not the only child in China to report their parents to the police.
In January, a 10-year-old boy in Ningxia Hui autonomous region in north central China called the police to report that his father was hoarding poppy capsules at home after he was criticised for not doing his homework.
A police search of their home uncovered the illegal narcotics which the father said he kept for medicinal purposes.
The man was taken in for questioning, but his fate remains unclear. - South China Morning Post
