Center for deaf children under probe after abuse claims

Police in Beijing's Yanqing district are investigating a rehabilitation center for deaf children after an online post showing teachers abusing children went viral on social media.

Police with the Yanqing district Branch of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau made the announcement Thursday morning on its official Weibo account.

According to Sina Weibo user Youshangdeshaoxiao, there're 37 children in the rehab center and most of them are hearing-impaired, with one autistic and two with developmental delays.

"I was so scared when I saw very horrible things happening here," said the weibo user. "The teachers are our nightmare." According to the post, the teachers often turned the children upside down and slapped their bottoms and some teachers hit them with brooms.

The post also said the center, which claimed to offer one-to-one teaching, never followed this practice. When parents asked for videos to check their children's progress, they were shown doctored videos.

Most of the children need hearing aids or cochlear implants, but in the weekends they sat all day long watching TV in the activity rooms without wearing any auxiliary devices.

"Watching TV without hearing any sound was still fine as long as we were not beaten. But the nightmares never stopped," the post said.

Moreover, the activity rooms in the rehab center were full of urine smell and the children often suffered from hunger. One time, a child was beaten for drinking out of toilets as he was too thirsty.