Nan'an, a city under Quanzhou of Fujian province, has punished eight officials in its Xiangyang township after a man posted messages online claiming that his father and daughter had been locked in the township's family planning service institution.

Lin Tiesheng, 29, a township resident, posted a picture on his weibo account on Wednesday that showed eight people, including two children, locked behind a barred gate.

Lin said the picture was taken in the township's family planning service institution. Among those it showed, he said, were his 63-year-old father and 2-year-old daughter.