Early morning May 10th, in an alley next to Longgui Food Market in Baiyun district of Guangzhou, a homeless woman gave birth to an infant boy. This woman may have an mental illness, but utterly resisted hospital assistance. Photographs by Southern Metropolis Daily Reporter Liang Weipei.
According to nearby residents, this woman has been seen around the food market for 2-3 months now, and on May 10th, many people discovered that this one pregnant woman now had a filthy little infant boy in her arms. At first the woman and infant boy were still connected by an umbilical cord, but she herself used scissors to cut it, leaving the bloody umbilical cord on the road in front of the food market.
The infant boy has remained unclothed since it was born, the woman not using any clothing to wrap up the child. She carried the child to a public toilet next to the food market. Someone said the woman was living in the public restroom previously as well. Photo is of a hospital worker trying to persuade the homeless woman to feed her son, but being refused.
At an intersection on Guangcong Road, probably owing to thirst, the woman used a plastic bag to collect water from a roadside ditch and poured it into her mouth, the naked infant boy placed on the muddy ground beside her.
A doctor from the Baiyun District Red Cross Hospital said preliminary determinations indicate the woman may have a mental illness. After nursing care the infant boy’s condition is currently stable and will remain at the hospital for more comprehensive care examination. The hospital has also contacted a mental hospital, where they will send the woman for examination and treatment, while the male infant may in the future be sent to a child welfare institution.
