This is the moment a young boy sleeps under the stars on a car bonnet because his divorced parents allegedly did not want to take care of him.

The incident was filmed in the Chinese megacity of Tianjin by female TikTok user ‘Rui Rui’, who said she had seen the boy on many occasions but spoke to him for the first time after encountering him asleep on the car bonnet.

She asked the child why he was sleeping outside and not at home, and he replied: “My parents are divorced and don’t want me. My mum’s house is not far from here, but she won’t open the door to me.”

According to the news site Baidu, the nine-year-old boy was unable to go to a local orphanage because both his parents are alive, so he was forced to sleep outside under the stars.

It is unclear how many nights the boy slept on the car bonnet.

However, the police were informed and officers paid a visit to the young lad’s parents.

The police confirmed that the couple had divorced, but they denied abandoning their son.

They said that the boy has since been returned home, adding that there were special circumstances to the family situation that they were unwilling to disclose, and they did not specify which parent he is now living with.

According to Baidu, the boy has lived with both parents at various times, the last occasion being with his mother, who is hearing impaired and dependent on meagre state benefits.