‘Little Jack Ma’: Chinese child double of diminutive billionaire seen begging for money in traffic, reigniting online debate over exploitation
- 15-year-old Fan Xiaoqin, who first became an internet star in 2015, has re-surfaced begging for money in busy traffic in southeast China
- Angry online observers slam his family and ‘greedy capitalists’ over ‘exploitation’ and demand he be given a proper education
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s famous doppelganger “Little Jack Ma” has been spotted stopping cars on the street to beg for money, reigniting an online debate about family child abuse and exploitation in the entertainment industry.
In a video filmed at the end of 2022 which went viral in January, 15-year-old “Little Jack Ma”, whose real name is Fan Xiaoqin, is seen stopping cars randomly on a busy street in Yongfeng County in southeastern China’s Jiangxi province.
In another video, a man in a car points his camera at Fan and makes fun of him: “Look, Little Jack Ma is begging for money from me on the street.”
A member of staff with the county government said Fan was asked to carry out the begging by his family, and Fan, who suffers from an intellectual disability, wasn’t aware of what he was doing, The Paper reported on January 16.
Another member of government staff told The Paper that Fan’s family was “not in financial difficulty” as they received a monthly subsistence allowance of 2,400 yuan (US$350).
