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Online fury over woman, 92, 'kept' in pigsty

This article is more than 12 months old

Netizens in China have expressed their anger over the treatment of an old woman after photos showing her in a pigsty were shared online.

The 92-year-old woman, surnamed Yang, has been living in a pigsty "for years" in the southern Guangxi region of China, according to reports.

Photos circulated on Chinese social media of the malnourished woman, who was allegedly kept in the padlocked 10 sq m pigsty by her son and daughter-in-law, and slept on a wooden bench, according to the BBC.

A user had posted on Jan 6 a video of Yang on the popular video service Miaopai.

She questioned how the woman's captors could make her live in such conditions without food.

OUTRAGE

The video has since drawn over 1.8 million views, and viewers expressed their outrage on micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo through the hashtag #92YearOldKeptInPigsty, the BBC reported.

Pictures of Yang's malnourished body at a medical check, published by Southern Morning Post, fanned the flames on Tuesday.

The paper reported that the local hospital was treating Yang, and residents chipped in with bedding and clothes.

However, the woman's son, surnamed Wu, said she had moved into the pigsty on her own accord, as she felt she was a burden to them and "was worried about making the house smell", according to the BBC.

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