Shanghai day care center suspended amid scandal

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A day care center in Shanghai has been suspended indefinitely on Thursday amid allegations of child abuse.

In a video widely circulated on China’s social media the last couple days, children are caught on camera being pushed and forced to swallow wasabi.

Photo from Sina.com

Along with the public outrage, four of the center's staff members have been dismissed, including the principal. Three people are under criminal detention, while the case is under further investigation.

According to reports, the center was jointly established in 2015 by the magazine Modern Family, which is affiliated with the Shanghai Women's Federation (SWF) and Ctrip, a leading provider of travel services in China, to babysit Ctrip employees’ children.

Internal email from Ctrip CEO Sun Jie. /Photo from Sina.com

The media has reported that a human resources senior director at Ctrip has taken the blame for the scandal and resigned.

Education authorities in Shanghai say they are aware of the case but because the center had not been filed as an official education institution, responsibility for the case is with SWF.

"The center is headed by local SWF, so it is not an officially certified kindergarten," said Deng Danping, a member of the Education Committee at Changning District in Shanghai to Kanfa News, a legal news platform in China.

Screenshot of SWF's response on Weibo

SWF has strongly condemned the incident, vowed to handle the matter seriously and strengthen future management.

Morover, Ctrip will provide parents with two weeks of paid leave to take care of their kids, and will continue to look for better day care service.