A man in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, has refused to see his mother because, he says, "she looks so ugly that she will bring shame on me". Such ungrateful attitude of children toward their parents is the result of his lack of indebtedness, says an article by Xinhua News Agency. Excerpts:

A woman surnamed Ding carrying loads of stuff for her son on a shoulder pole all the way from her hometown to Hangzhou waited for a whole day in a street to meet him but he didn't show up. Her son, whose last name is Xu, didn't even answer one of the innumerable phone calls she made to him.

Ding later said that her son had once told her not to visit and disgrace him with her "ugly" look. Xu is said to be working as a manager of a company after having graduated from a prestigious university. But the way he treats his mother reflects that he has mastered the two major vices of heartlessness and unfilial behavior.

The fast changing world of Chinese society has many examples of such unfilial behavior. Parents pamper their offspring in their childhood to such an extent that they become self-centered and disrespectful toward even their parents. When children start going to school, most parents just want them to work hard, secure good scores and get admitted to good universities.

And when many of the same children get good jobs in cities they consider their parents, who had to toil day and night to give their offspring's a better life ugly, they even refuse to meet them. At the most, such children send their parents some money to lessen their guilt.

As a Chinese saying goes, a mother never appears ugly to her son and dogs don't care whether their owners are poor. Hopefully, people like Xu will realize that their mothers are beautiful irrespective of their looks.

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