As drug addicts do their thing in broad daylight in the surrounding areas of the Xi'an Railway Station, child beggars roam the grounds asking for spare change from commuters from all walks of life.
The Global Times reported that addicts can be seen injecting drugs to their bodies in public, not minding the throng of people passing by every minute.
These drug addicts are presumably vagrants.
Some of the people who witnessed them photographed the disturbing scenario and posted the pictures online.
Xi’an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province, is frequented by domestic and foreign tourists.
From temples to museums to pagodas, Xi’an is teeming with man-made attractions.
For one, the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang or the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, which has the Terracotta Army Museum on its lot, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The city itself is surrounded by a 39-foot fortification with a history dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Its natural attractions, on the other hand, abound in the form of national parks, mountains and hot springs.
The thriving tourism in Xi’an can be affected in different ways by the presence of these drug addicts and child beggars, especially since they mostly gather in a place serving as a major transportation hub.
When interviewed by the Global Times, Yang Bing, a department chief from the city’s Public Security Bureau, said that drug addicts would also act as pickpockets.
Yang also said that many of these addicts either have tuberculosis (TB) or, worse, HIV.
Addicts who are HIV positive can transmit the infection by sharing the needles or syringes they use when they do drugs.