Bureau tried to 'borrow' orphans from temple

The Rongcheng district government apologized on Monday evening for "borrowing" orphans in a failed ruse to pass the inspection of a childcare facility.

The district in Jieyang, Guangdong province, has now promised to put 3 million yuan ($482,000) toward caring for orphans, People's Daily reported. 

The district also announced that the director of its civil affairs bureau, Lin Xiangbiao, was dismissed. 

The Guangdong provincial civil affairs department had required a check of orphans across the province after a fatal fire in an unlicensed orphanage in Lankao county, Henan province, earlier this month.

The Rongcheng civil affairs bureau had told their superiors that they had a social welfare home for orphans, as required by provincial authorities. 

However, they were not operating such a facility.

A video posted on a micro blog last week showed a worker representing the bureau asking to borrow a dozen orphans from Shi Yaokai, a Buddhist abbot at the Zifeng Temple.

The abbot refused the request.

Zifeng Temple has the largest number of abandoned babies among local non-governmental bodies.

There are 185 orphans in Rongcheng, with 70 living on government subsidies and 115 cared for by individuals and non-governmental bodies, according to the bureau.

The way the workers of the bureau checked and handled the orphans at Zifeng Temple was wrong and irresponsible, it said.