The incident occurred on a Juneyao Airlines flight from the southwestern city of Guiyang to Shanghai on Saturday morning when the little girl, who was travelling with her grandparents, became unruly and could not be calmed down.
The two female passengers, who were not related to the family, took the distressed child into the bathroom with the grandmother’s consent, and berated her with stern language while the grandmother waited outside the door.
Gou took footage of herself carrying the toddler inside the cubicle and continued to film throughout the entire episode.
In a video she posted to social media, the child is seen crying, wriggling and coughing as the other woman, seated on the toilet, tells her she can only see her grandmother again if she stops crying.
“If you make any noise again, we will leave you here alone,” one of the women can be heard telling the screaming child as she claws inconsolably at the door.
Gou presented herself in the now-viral post on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, as a champion of fellow travellers’ right to a peaceful flight.
“Many passengers were using tissues to block their ears,” she wrote. “Some had moved to the back of the plane to escape the noise.”
Backlash to video
But the backlash to the footage was swift and harsh, with social media users accusing her of being heartless and bullying the child.
Some went as far as to report her to the police on the grounds her behaviour was potentially abusive, posting screengrabs of the filed police reports in their comments, reported Sixth Tone.
In response to the avalanche of criticism, Gou said she “prefers to take action rather than be a bystander”.
“I just wanted to calm the child down and let everyone rest,” she wrote on Douyin.
She also said some passengers had “moved to the back of the plane to escape the noise”.
She later set her TikTok account to private.
Security bureau not pressing charges
The provincial Guizhou Airport public security bureau is not pressing charges against the women on the grounds they acted with the consent of the girl’s grandparents.
The airline said in a statement the girl’s grandmother had given the two women permission to “educate her”.
Juneyao conducted its own investigation and contacted the child’s mother, who said she understood the women’s actions.
The incident has sparked debate on Chinese social media, dividing users on how to best deal with rowdy children on public transport and in public spaces – a topic that has become increasingly controversial in recent years.
The term “xiong haizi” or “bear children” has been coined to describe spoiled offspring who run wild and disturb the public unhindered.
This has sparked a spate of previous posts from social media users who support the idea of disciplining other people’s misbehaving children and even offering tutorials on how to train children to be more polite. Gou may have been attempting to tap into this theme, suggested Sixth Tone.
Some commentators did offer support for her decision to take matters into her own hands to reduce the noise on the flight.
But the post spawned related hashtags that racked up millions of views as people piled in to criticise her and pointed out young children struggle to control their emotions.
“Didn’t you cry when you were young too?” asked one user.
