report at least 21 people held at chinas vagrant care center died in a few months creditjason leereutersmarch 20 2017beijing squalid conditions at a care center for vagrants in southern china ignited public outrage on monday after reports that at least 21 people held there had died in just a few months including an autistic boy who died after being given filthy food and waterthe deaths at the facility in shaoguan guangdong province came to light in an unusual expos published by a staterun newspaper the case tapped into broad concerns in china over the governments treatment of the poor and disadvantaged especially rural migrants vulnerable to discrimination and detention in chinese citiespast cases of abuse have put the communist party on the defensive and the government moved quickly on monday to address angry questions about the facility in shaoguan such centers are intended to care for the destitute the mentally impaired and older people who become separated from their families but critics say the authorities use them to keep undesirables off city streetsthe accounts of crowding and neglect at the center suggest that government efforts fell far short the family of the 15yearold boy who died lei wenfeng blamed officials who did not do enough to care for him or find his family after he wandered off from his father last yearour wish is very simple lei hongyong the boys uncle said in a brief telephone interview on monday we dont want things like this to happen in our country again the safety and assistance systems must be improved and we hope that the country will do a better joblei wenfengs lonely death in december was reported by the beijing news on monday the newspaper said at least 20 other people held at the same care center for the homeless had died so far this year according to records from a nearby funeral home on monday officials neither confirmed nor disputed that estimatenews organizations in china have faced tightening censorship under president xi jinping but sometimes scandals move faster than officials or the central government allows journalists to expose the misdeeds of local governments in this case the revelations left shaoguan officials scrambling to head off public and news media angerthis is a trauma for humanity said an editorial in the beijing news just how many lei wenfengs died in this care center and why they died should be investigatedlater on monday local officials announced that they had shut the center in early march and had put four people in charge there under investigation after finding out about deaths in the center according to official news reports the announcement did not say how many people had diedmany people responded to the reports with demands for more information and for more to be done for homeless people who get lostwhat problem does young lei wenfengs death highlight said one comment on weibo a twitterlike service it shows that human life is worth less than moneywho could believe there could be