Chinese dad forces son to run almost naked on snow to man him up

Birmingham Star (ANI) Thursday 9th February, 2012

A Chinese dad on a visit to New York made his 4-year-old son, dressed only in gym shoes and a pair of yellow underpants, run and do push-ups in the snow to develop a "masculine temperament". shocking video shows the boy with tears streaming down his face performing push-ups in heavy snow.

Filmed on a New York street, the shaky footage sees a person wearing a heavy hooded jacket to protect themselves from the chill, proving just how extreme and bitter the conditions were at the time.

The youngster has been identified as Chinese tot Ho Yide.

It is claimed that his father filmed the footage while his mother watched on during a family holiday in the US.

They are said to have forced their son to brave the elements in a bid to "build up his strength".

In further scenes from the upsetting film, the youngster is seen pleading for them to let him stop after running along the pavement.

Towards the end of the clip he plants his hands on the ground to perform push-ups.

The footage has attracted universal disgust on message boards, with one surfer slamming the child's parents and branding them: "stupid" and "selfish".

A personal assistant for the boy's father, a woman named Xin has said that the video was taken during a family holiday to New York for the Lunar New Year celebrations last month.

"The child agreed and, before the run, he did half an hour of slow running to warm up," the Sun quoted Xin as saying.

"This child has received all sorts of forms of training since he was small.

"When he was one, he started swimming in water that was 21 degrees Celsius."

Xin went on to say that the boy was born early and had several health problems such as water on his brain. Doctors feared he may suffer cerebral palsy.

Xin added that Ho Yide's dad did not care about the outrage sparked by the footage.

"He says he doesn't care what others say, that the fact that the child lived showed that he has tenacious vitality," she said. (ANI)