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China Local News

Mid-Term Stress: 10-year-old commits suicide

According to Sina, on the night of November 17th, a child in Guangzhou committed suicide by hanging himself in his home. Prior to the boy taking his own life, his grandmother discovered that the child had only scored 39 points on his mid-term English exam.

Manya Koetse

Published

6 years ago

on

Trending on Sina Weibo today is the tragic of a ten year old boy who committed suicide by hanging (#10岁男童上吊自杀#).

According to Sina, on the night of November 17th, a child in Guangzhou committed suicide by hanging himself in his home. Prior to the boy taking his own life, his grandmother discovered that the child had only scored 39 points on his mid-term English exam. She told him not to play outside but practice his texts instead. In his diary, the boy wrote: “I regret that I only scored a 3.9, I wish I had listened to my grandmother the day before the test.”

Netizens have responded in various ways- most are shocked that a boy as young as ten years old knows how to hang himself. Others blame the existing pressure in China for children to get high scores at school.

“So many mistakes- it’s all the child’s fault. The parents are not to to blame, the teachers are not to blame, the education system is not to blame. Poor parents, poor teachers, poor school, that this kid did not listen, that this kid was so bad, so bad since he was born,” one netizen writes.*

Although China has recently seen a drop in suicide numbers, suicide amongst young people is still a problem. A comparable suicide case to the Guangzhou one occurred in China last year, when a 10-year-old boy jumped from a building after being scolded by a teacher. Suicide is the top cause of death among Chinese youth; school stress is often a major factor. The Annual Report on China’s Education has stated that there were 79 suicides by elementary and high school students last year that were directly related to extreme pressure to study (Caskie, 2013; Roberts 2014).

 

References

Caskie, Susan. 2013. “The rise of youth suicide in China.” The Week, 1 Nov. http://theweek.com/article/index/252199/the-rise-of-youth-suicide-in-china (Accessed November 21, 2014).

Roberts, Dexter. 2014. “China Exam System Drives Student Suicides.” Bloomberg Business Week, 15 May. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-15/china-exam-system-drives-student-suicides (Accessed November 21, 2014).

*(我是钢铁土豆 – #10岁男童上吊自杀# 千错万错，都是孩子的错，家长没错，老师没错，教育没错！家长可怜啊，老师可怜啊，教育可怜啊，这个孩子太不听话了，这个孩子太坏了，这个孩子生下来就这么坏啊。父母太伟大了，老师太伟大了，学校太不容易了。这个孩子伤害了父母，伤害了老师，伤害了同学，伤害了教育制度，该死).

 

[box] This is Weiblog: the What’s on Weibo short-blog section. Brief daily updates on our blog and what is currently trending on China’s biggest social medium, Sina Weibo.[/box]

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Manya Koetse

Manya Koetse is the editor-in-chief of www.whatsonweibo.com. She is a writer and consultant (Sinologist, MPhil) on social trends in China, with a focus on social media and digital developments, popular culture, and gender issues. Contact at manya@whatsonweibo.com, or follow on Twitter.

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China Local News

Oil Tanker Truck Explosion Sends Shock Waves through Wenling, Zhejiang

A major oil tanker explosion has left over a hundred people injured and at least ten dead in Wenling, Zhejiang.

Manya Koetse

Published

2 months ago

on

June 13, 2020

By

First published

On June 13, the explosion of an oil tanker truck has caused chaos in the city of Wenling in China’s Zhejiang province, leaving at least 112 127 people injured and nine 10 people dead.

The explosion took place in the afternoon at approximately 16:40 near the exit of the G15 Shenhai highway, causing a loud bang and wrecking some homes in the vicinity.

The hashtag “Zhejiang Wenling Tanker Wagon Explosion” (#浙江温岭槽罐车爆炸#) and other related hashtags (#浙江温岭一油罐车爆炸#) are attracting millions of views on social media site Weibo on Saturday evening (local time), with Chinese media and netizens sharing the footage of the damage caused by the explosion.

“My god, this is so scary,” a typical comment on Weibo says, with many people expressing their shock over the major incident.

Emergency and rescue workers are currently still at the scene to assist victims and clear away the wreckage caused by the explosion.

On Saturday night around 21:15 local time, Chiense state media outlet CCTV was still broadcasting a live stream through Weibo showing the latest images and footage of the situation and interviewing injured people in the hospital.

Local authorities and Chinese media are warning people not to go near Wenling’s Daxi to keep the roads clear for rescue workers.

Meanwhile, people on Chinese social media are spreading praying emoji’s and candles, expressing their sympathies for the victims of today’s explosion.

By Manya Koetse

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©2020 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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China Local News

China’s Shulan City in “Wartime Mode” after Recording 13 COVID-19 Infections

Local authorities announced a “wartime mode” lockdown due to 13 new local coronavirus cases in Shulan.

Manya Koetse

Published

3 months ago

on

May 11, 2020

By

First published
 

The city of Shulan in China’s Jilin Province is top trending on Chinese social media today after local authorities announced a “wartime mode” lockdown due to 13 new local coronavirus cases.

These are the first local infections in the entire province after a period of 73 days, China News reports, with other previous cases all being infections from abroad.

Last week, on May 7th, a female resident was the first to be tested positive for COVID-19. The city in northeast China is now the only place in the PRC to be marked as “high risk.”

One page on social media platform Weibo dedicated to the topic of Shulan going into “wartime mode” (“战时状态”) had received over 190 million views by Monday evening local time.

What does this “wartime mode” entail?
– All residents stay home, lockdown of residential compounds
– All public places closed
– Schools closed
– All public transportation suspended
– No more selling of fever-reducing medicine in clinics or stores

According to CGTN, a total of 290 people who have been in close contact with the infected patients have been traced and placed under medical observation.

For more COVID-19 related articles, please click here.

By Manya Koetse (@manyapan)
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©2020 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.

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