The tot - clearly too young to ride pillion - stares out from the box trustingly as he is towed along the road by a piece of rope.
The scene was photographed by a passer-by in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.
He said: "When I first saw this bike coming down the road I thought he had a dog or something in the box and I thought, 'How cruel'. But when it got closer I could see it was a boy, no older than two and I was horrified."
