One of China’s most politically important TV news programs on Friday aired a search notice for a missing mother, a surprising move for a TV program mostly dedicated to politics and major news events.
Zhou Yueying, a 73-year-old mother of four sons, left home on Aug. 1 in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and had remained missing as of Friday, according to that day’s “Xinwen Lianbo,” a 30-minute daily news show broadcast at 7:00 p.m. on the China Central Television (CCTV).
The four sons have tried their best to locate their mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, said the unusual piece lasting 3 minutes and 43 seconds.
The program also showed a photograph of the woman and offered two cell phone numbers where her sons could be reached, calling for the public to help the family.
Shortly after the live broadcast, many domestic social networking website users launched discussions on that piece of news.
Many were surprised by the unusual move, as the program is often considered to be dedicated to serious political matters and major news events.
The change made people feel warm, wrote “QidaiII” on Sina Weibo, China’s most popular Twitter-like microblogging platform.
“Lwwangzheng” praised the move and believed that it would earn public respect for the program.
Many microbloggers also extended their blessings to the family and pledged to repost the search notice in order to mobilize more people.
Xinhua