Shunyi Foreign Foster Parent of 11 Disappears, Critically Ill Child at Hospital

I am saddened beyond words. This is awful.

All I can say is that there are many, many witnesses to this story; for one reason or another it was easier for everyone to look the other side and not report him to the authorities.

I am not saying he sent her to hospital (this or the previous two times), but there is a big chance he did; he is even all around Chinese media, if you search. Why is he on the run? If he had nothing to hide he would be by the girl's side at the hospital, like most of us -if not all- would do.

And BTW I have never read or heard the Chinese lady was her spouse or anything, she is always referred to as a "nanny" or "Ayi"

I somehow get a feeling y people'so comments that the fact that he's a foreigner turns him into a "nice guy" automatically.

This is a sensitive story, and if he's a "good guy gone bad" doesn't mean we all are like that... I am not at all worried that I will be pointed at just for being a foreigner, all .thanks to him ! I am way more concerned for these children's welfare, for the girl's health, recovery and future, and that if this guy did what I think he did, is brought to the authorities to get whatever punishment they decide he deserves.

The fact that we are foreigners in China doesn't magically turn us into Angels. We are all human beings and regardless of our nationalities we have proven to be capable of doing horrible things.

It is beyond my comprehension how or why someone would harm a child (or another human being for that matter) in any way, and we all know it happens every day, all around the world.

I agree, there are tons of foreigners who do countless amazing things here! This might be ONE guy gone bad.

My two fen

admin wrote:

Note: At the request of commenters, we have replaced the photos that were used in the original Legal Daily article.

Thanks, TBJ. Please do keep us updated on how the lil girl is doing. That I do hope would be the main interest of TBJ readers. A fair number of commenters seem to have forgotten to ask about her in the midst of angst over the foster parent.

Let me show you:

"A volunteer attending to the girl claims she said she had been beaten by her foster father"

- Before you said the volunteer claimed this and not that the volunteer claimed this. Only after my message did you change it.

This was never said: "She is extremely withdrawn and in her current condition is mostly too scared to talk to anyone."

This was re-worded: "Ray posts the stories of the orphans onto a website at www.rayschildren.org and accepts donations to pay for the children's corrective surgeries, and the children typically remained with him afterward."

You never mentioned "another witness contacted by thebeijinger: "an additional witness contacted by the Beijinger claims Ray was harsh."

you never mentioned how often the volunteer came to the house and that he brought food: "Xu said he volunteered at Ray’s house three times per week and would bring food each time, but it never seemed to be enough to feed the children"

This wasn't mentioned: "The children were home-schooled and all have some level of reading and writing skills, although lagging behind kids of their age".

This was never mentioned: "Xu said that Ray would move every several months, and after each month would cease to contact former volunteers."

I've been keeping track of this story all day and it's weird that thebeijinger keeps re-writing the article without announcing they've re-written it to cover their tracks. Why haven't they published at least a sticker that says "Updated" or "Revised Article". Again, sloppy journalism.

The difference from when this article was published till now is day and night. And no one really admitted anything.

+1, TBJ please remove the victem's photo and redact her name.

Uhm, did you know, Squid, that perusing the Beijinger is not actually mandated by law? It's completely optional; you can either read the stuff here or not, without any consequences whatsoever. I wanted to make sure you are aware of that, because of your obvious distaste for the website. You're FREE!!

Were all eleven childern living with one guy in one house? The story seems to suggest that they lived in several locations-so apparently he is not the only foster parent. Was this a charity, that was under the name of the Chinese woman, who you have completely left out of the story? Have you ever written anything about this charity BEFORE these things happened?

For you to say, I admire the guy for the great works he has done, but does that give him the right to beat childern is just sort of too ridiculous to deserve a reply other than, wtf. On top of this, you have no problem allowing mentally challenged people like Booby turning the story into his little fetish game, complete with pictures of the kids, and sick tales. The whole point being, does this website have any standards at all?

unless you have sampled their sandwhiches this is a pretty ignorant comment. one of them has macaronni and cheese with bacon. another comes with a cup of tomato soup you can dip it in.

You mean writing a column about a new cheese restaurant opeing is one of the great ways you are highlighting the good works of foreigners in the community?

Gee, how could I have missed that.

"From the way I see it, this guy is to be admired for what looks like unselfish devotion to taking care of unwanted handicapped children, for apparently little or no reward. But that doesn't give him the right to hurt the children, does it?"

You have no idea that he did hurt any children. I repeat, you have no evidence, just hearsay. In fact, if this article was published in the west, you could be sued for slander. I don't know what the laws in China are, but my suggestion is to stop any accusations you are and will continue to make.

"Actually it does -- just poorly worded/translated on our part."

That's kind of a big thing to mistranslate, isn't it? In fact it's the BIGGEST ASPECT that gives the whole article any credence whether the abuse came from the girl's mouth or the volunteer's. How could you have been so sloppy as to have missed that?

""Reporters interviewed Capital Paradise security guards who say he has since moved out."
- They don't say anything about the abuse aspect, just that he has moved out.
True but they are also the source of the references to the kids searching for food in the trash."

The article states that neighbours complained about the kids rummaging through the trash, it doesn't say the security guards found them rummaging through the trash. How do we know what the motivations of the kids were? Were they actually hungry, was it a game, we don't know, but I guess you do. The neighbors could have had it in for this guy and made the whole thing up, but thebeijinger I guess knows the answer already.

I just think that this article is the line that thebeijinger crossed where it became a reference point for me to find out about events happening in Beijing to becoming a Journalistic news source where as an entity you do private investigations yourself.

I feel gross having read this. I understand that there are different protocols and ethics for journalism in China, but this is still an English language newspaper that focuses on content that disproportionately interests foreigners in China, and by and large, presents itself as some form of journalism.

Publishing the name of a child abuse victim makes you worse than the sleeziest tabloids in the world and is universally considered a breach of ethics in the developed world. Publishing a photo of a child abuse victim in her hospital is vile. I am literally nauseated by the fact that someone has to tell you this.

"A volunteer attending to the girl claims she said she had been beaten by her foster father."

- The article never states the the accusation comes from the child herself.

"Reporters interviewed Capital Paradise security guards who say he has since moved out."

- They don't say anything about the abuse aspect, just that he has moved out.

"Xu and an additional witness contacted by the Beijinger claims Ray was harsh to the children in public, often pushing them, twisting their ears or yelling at them."

- I've seen this kind of action from how many Chinese parents...It doesn't confirm anything.