Poverty-stricken Chinese father who shackled his son given three years free childcare

It was the heartbreaking picture that went round the world - a bewildered little boy chained to a post while his impoverished father and mother went in search of work.

The plight of two-year- old Jingdan has moved a local nursery boss in Beijing who has offered to give him three years of free child care.

'The nursery fees will be paid by me, which amounts to about 40,000 yuan (£3,725),' said the president of the Aibei Kindergarten, a man known as Mr Pi.

Mr Pi stepped in after seeing the harrowing photos of Jingdan padlocked to a lamppost in the Chinese capital, Beijing, earlier this week.

The image was so appalling that it was beamed around the world, a poignant reminder of the desperate lengths that parents will go to to protect their children.

For, Chuanliu explained, he had chained his son up not out of cruelty, but out of fear.

His four-year-old daughter Jinghong has not been seen since January 22. Chuanliu had left her playing with friends while he worked. The children's mother has been unable to care for them as she is ill, he explained.

Jinghong's parents believe she was abducted on the streets of Beijing. They were too poor to afford a photograph of her, and so the police have nothing to go on but a description of the child by her parents.

And poverty prevented them from being able to protect their remaining child.

Source: Daily Mail UK.