A video showing two women locking a crying toddler in an airplane bathroom has gone viral in China.
The incident took place during a flight on a Juneyao Airlines plane flying from Guiyang to Shanghai, according to BBC.
The video has sparked an online debate in China over how to handle children's tantrums in public places after a woman in the video, Gou Tingting, posted the video of herself carrying a crying child into a toilet.
In contrast, the other woman was heard telling the girl that she could leave the stall only if she stopped crying.
Tingting hoped to portray herself as a rescuer and helper to the others on board, but soon faced a backlash from the public.
Viewers accused Tingting of bullying the girl and told her she lacked “empathy.”
“Children can't control their emotions when they're one or two years old. What's wrong with crying? Didn't you cry when you were little too?” one viewer commented on Weibo.
In response to the backlash, Tingting said she does not prefer to be a bystander and wants to take action: “I just wanted to calm the child down and let everyone rest,” explaining further on Chinese social media site Douyin that due to the child's cries, some passengers were forced to move to the back of the plane.
At the same time, some had to cover their ears with handkerchiefs to block out the girl's persistent crying, according to Tingting.
The airline said the two women's grandmother, who had started crying during the flight, allowed them to care for the child, and urged some to support their actions since they received her consent to do so.
According to Chinese media, the child is one year old, but the airline did not provide this detail.
