Train confrontation: Mother buying extra seats for son sparks debate in China
A train confrontation occurred in China’s Shandong City when a mother was berated for purchasing three tickets to allow her recently operated son to lie down. The contentious incident happened on August 16 as a male passenger, who did not possess a seat ticket, verbally assaulted the mother and son over the three occupied seats.
The mother, who had bought the three tickets to allow her son to rest after surgery, was shocked to find herself being accused of being “unethical” and further subjected to a barrage of aggressive language. The verbal assault left her in tears.
The altercation started when the ticketless male passenger noticed that the woman’s son was occupying three seats. He confronted the pair, leading to the intervention of a railway official. Once the official understood the mother’s reasons for purchasing three tickets, he defended her and her son, telling the aggressive passenger, “Comrade, this is too much. They bought three tickets, it’s not like they are occupying free seats.”
Nevertheless, the male passenger continued his disrespectful behaviour, showing no regard for the official or anyone else. He again accused the mother of having bad intentions, to which the official retorted, “Is it others’ thinking or yours that’s bad?” The man stubbornly maintained, “My thinking is the best.”
In response to the incident, the Chinese rail authority number 12306 stated, “Special circumstances permit the purchase of additional tickets, and any disputes can be reported to the officials.”
The train confrontation incident became one of the trending topics on Weibo, with netizens mostly siding with the mother, reported Sanook. They criticised the male passenger.
“Such people create problems without reason. He can sit as he pleases while others pay for his seat, what is this? People like this seem to want to take advantage of anything.”
“Seats are often shared with the elderly, the sick, the disabled, and pregnant women. Selfish people usually scream that ‘I am old,’ in reality, they are just ill-natured, not old.”
“Purchasing three tickets is reasonable because post-surgery it’s necessary to lie down. Being accused of being unethical, what about those who claim they are old to sit in others’ seats for free, are they ethical?”
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