Relief stations are not B&Bs for travelers

A YOUNG MAN rescued from cold by the police in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, was later found to have received aid from relief stations across China 234 times in the past two years. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

The man said he was traveling across China and he often begged for money, and he would turn to the relief stations if he did not make enough money begging. In this way, he has been to over 60 cities, without a job and income.

It seems the young man is a vagrant, rather than traveler, as even those traveling around the country cheaply usually make good arrangements for their trips and will do part-time jobs to pay their way.

The young man's traveling is simply a waste of public resources.

Relief stations provide people in need with free food and even offer tickets to people to return home. But this young man repeatedly and deliberately put himself in need, which goes against the purpose of the aid. His actions can be viewed as a form of fraud.

The relief service stations cannot refuse to give him aid because they have a duty to offer a helping hand to those down on their luck. The stations could not refuse to help the young man suffering from poverty, but providing help to a healthy man, who could have lived a better life through work, is not their purpose.

In fact, there is no solution to those who rely on continual relief station aid to survive. But young people should be discouraged from regarding them as a cheap way to travel.