No child molestation found in Guizhou institutions, schools

An urgent inspection of child welfare institutions and kindergartens in two cities in Guizhou province found no evidence of child molestation, the civil affairs authority in Guizhou said on Thursday morning.

The investigation was initiated on Wednesday afternoon in response to online posts accusing several kindergartens and orphanages in Bijie city and Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture of sexually abusing young children.

The initial inspection included 15 child welfare institutions, five social welfare organizations providing child care services in the two cities, as well as all private kindergartens in Bijie.

The authority said that local civil affairs bodies are expanding their scope of inspection and continuing the investigation.

Social media posts that children were being forced to provide sexual services and receive hormone injections began circulating on Sina Weibo, a microblogging social media platform, since Wednesday.

The public security authority in Guizhou has also launched investigations to verify these posts, according to its official Sina Weibo account. No investigation result has been released as of Thursday morning.