A man who pretended to be disabled to occupy another passenger's window seat on a train apologized on Wednesday after his behavior drew fierce criticism online.
The man, surnamed Sun, on Tuesday occupied a woman's window seat on a Beijing-bound high-speed train. He refused to return to his own seat, claiming that he could not stand up, a viral video showed.
Sun stuck to his claim even after the train steward and railway police officer talked to him. The woman was transferred to another seat, news site iqilu.com reported on Wednesday.
Rumor had it that Sun works at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). However, an academy press center employee denied the rumor, saying, "Sun was a Master of Law student at the academy between 2013 and 2016, but never worked there."
Beijing Youth Daily reported that a friend of Sun said Sun has PhD in information economics at a South Korean university and once worked in the education industry.
Sun uploaded a video on Wednesday saying he regretted his actions, and that he violated social morality and harmed the woman. He promised not to make a similar mistake and asked people to give him a chance to reform, iqilu.com reported on Thursday.
Shandong Province's Jinan railway administration said the case was a moral issue and a crime was not committed. The Jinan public security bureau for railways has launched an investigation, the China News Service reported on Thursday.
Zhu Wei, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that such behavior should be deducted from one's social credit, saying a person shouldbe banned from taking trains if one's credit drops to a certain level.
Global Times