A Chinese schizophrenic has been 11 years locked up in a cage by his family
A mentally ill Chinese, called Wu Yuanhong has
been in a cage for 11 years , since her family 'punished' him for having beaten
to death a teenager.
He has spent more than a decade whith his
ankles tied up to a chain, he doesn’t even wear trousers and in his cage he
spends most of this time seaten.
Mr. Wu was diagnosed with schizophrenia when
he was 15. In 2001 he hit a 13 year old boy to death and was arrested by the
authorities.
However, the following year the police in the
province of Jiangxi (southeast of the country) released him because, due to his
illness, Wu was not responsible for his actions.
When the people of their village knew that he
was returning they were scared. Therefore, his mother built a first cage from
which he escaped, then his family build another cage but this one much more
solid. The argument of his mother about this was :"My son can be a very
dangerous man because of his mental illness, and may beat someone to death as
he already did”
Also another reason why his mother take this
decision is because on China many mental patients do not receive adequate
treatment in due to lack of
resources and qualified personnel, especially in rural areas. So she hadn’t got
any choice...or yes?
What do you think about this?
What would yo do if you wear his mum?
It is obvious that culture varies from one country to the other having many different aspects and values between countries, in this case: China and Spain. Something that they can see perfectly normal we can find ourselves in shock, a clear example is this new were Wu’s proper mother or even his neighbours won’t argue against the decision made 11 years ago of having him in a cage.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true that medicine isn’t available to everyone in China the same way it is in Spain, but that isn’t a valid argument, in personal point of view, that justifies the treatment Wu Yuanhong is receiving bearing in mind his schizophrenia. If I were his mother or even one of his many neighbours who seem not to care o just find this situation normal (I can’t tell which one of this two is worse than the other), I would certainly give Wu the treatment he deserves as probably he is suffering more than his family, friends or even the deceased’s family members who won’t even try to understand what he is going through.
Keeping a person in a cage for ten years is without doubt one of the cruelest actions I have ever heard of, and even worse if we are talking about a mother who did this to her own son. Wu Yuan Hong killed a person when he was a teenager but because of his illness, he was not legally responsible. However, his mother wasn’t able to deal with the pressure of the people in the small town she lived in and decided to lock him in a cage so he couldn’t escape. Even though his mother explains that there are not proper treatments near rural areas which is where she lived, she has no right to do this to a person. I agree with Marta in the idea that every country and community has different traditions and cultures, however every country has values and doing this is not morally correct in any part of the world. If the mother was really determined in helping her son live a better life, she could have looked for a center in a bigger city that could help with his treatment and probably someday he could have overcome his mental illness. She had to support and understand her own son, schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized for having delusions, hallucinations and it mainly affects chronic problems, but it can be treated. Wu Yuan Hong suffered for an entire decade because of being locked in a cage by his own mother, and in my opinion, almost everyone including myself, would rather be death that locked up for so long.
ReplyDeleteWang Muxiang, the mother, gave her son three meals each day and provided a pan when he needed the toilet. She had multiple arguments of doing this to her son and exclaimed to the media, "My son may be insane, and beat someone to death, but he's still my son. To use my own hands to place him in a cage was very hard to take, like being stabbed with a knife." The words told by Wang are extremely confusing; if doing this was as hard to take as she says, she could’ve helped him in many different ways.
After investigating about the help the government provides to the citizens with mental illnesses, I found out that the Ministry of Health said in 2010 that there were only about 20,000 psychiatrists to serve the country's population of 1.35 billion. Also, the government estimated that about 170 million people had some form of mental illness, and due to lack of resources, people in the countryside commonly don’t have proper treatments. After knowing all this you could think that Wang Muxiang was right because she really didn’t have more options to help his son, however, this is not true. Local officials supported her family with money and donations of oil and rice. If she was determined to help her son she could’ve done it, but instead, she ruined his life.
After reading this new, I have really felt very surprised because I didn't know anything about this child and I never thought that a mental problem could you do all these type of things, such as, scaping from a cage and wanting to beat people.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view I don’t think this Chinese boy has done something that is considered a good action, or something that has helped his society. I think that his actions have been very malefic and he should be punished for that.
On the other hand, I would say that I don’t think that the punishment established has been the correct one. You can’t put in a cage a person for more than one decade because this is not ethic or logic at all. I think that his Chinese boy hasn’t enjoyed his life or his childhood at all because of this, they have ruined his life, but also if we think about all the other things, this boy hasn’t done good things with other people, so he maybe can ruin other’s people lives. We can justify his horrible actions because of his mental illnesses; however this is not an excuse of killing or beating people.
I don’t really do what I would do, but I supposed that I tried to the best for my child. I would admit that my son is a little bit dangerous and that because of this mental illnesses and I would try to make him take some pills or make some treatment for him to get better and in a future solve this problem that he has. Although, I don’t if there is some possible treatment for this type of illness, but I suppose that if I would be his mother I would try to do everything for making my son feel and get better, and make him have a normal life as all the people or children of his age.
In my opinion, what Wu Yuanhong’ s family has done to him is something completely immoral as well as unacceptable. I believe that nobody should live under such terrible conditions for such a long amount of time, no matter what they have done.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that his mother justifies her act by saying that it was to protect other people as her son was “dangerous” is something which, in my opinion, is unbearable. The family, from my point of view, is meant to be supportive and should be there to help one another when needed; and what Wu Yuanhong’ s family has done shows no support or even love towards him whatsoever. But, not only have they locked him up in a cage for more than a decade but they have justified this action by saying it was because of his mental illness.
In my opinion, treating someone in such a horrible way is inhuman and i think that the fact that his family locked him in a cage instead of trying to help him with his mental illness is awful. If i were to be in his mother’s position i would definitely try to help him out as much as could to make him be able to fit in society.