China Local News

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

Published

6 years ago

November 21, 2014

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]

China Local News

Boy, 15, Fatally Beaten and Buried by Group of Minors in Shaanxi

The heinous crime has sparked discussions on the problem of campus violence and China’s criminal liability age.

Published

4 months ago

November 10, 2020

Manya Koetse

A brutal incident that took place in the city of Xingping in Shaanxi province is top trending on Chinese social media today.

On October 29, a 15-year-old boy by the name of Yuan (袁) was fatally beaten and buried by a group of six people, all minors.

Beijing News reports that Yuan was a second-year student at the Xianyang Xingping Jincheng Middle School. He had taken time off from school and had a temporary job in Xi’an before the incident occurred.

Yuan’s father told reporters that his son had returned to Xingping on October 29. A small group of minors, including four students, allegedly demanded money from Yuan, which he refused. It is also reported that a conflict occurred because Yuan added one of the minors to his phone’s ‘blacklist’ (电话拉黑).

According to various news reports, the group of minors attacked the boy with a pickaxe after which he became unconscious. They then brought him over to a nearby hotel and discovered he was dead the next day. They later buried his lifeless body in a pit near the school premises.

The location where Yuan’s body was buried, photo by Beijing News.

On November 2, other students who had heard of the crime reported it to the police. Yuan’s body was found in the pit shortly after officers arrived at the scene.

Local authorities released a statement about the case on November 10, in which they stated the suspects have been detained and that the case is still under investigation.

Various sources on Weibo claim that Yuan previously also suffered beatings at school, with severe school bullying being the main reason for the 15-year-old to temporarily drop out of school.

In a video report by Pear Video, Yuan’s father says they are still unsure of how their son died, suggesting he might have still been alive when he was buried in the pit.

China has been dealing with an epidemic of school violence for years. In 2016, Chinese netizens already urged authorities to address the problem of extreme bullying in schools, partly because minors under the age of 16 rarely face criminal punishment for their actions.

On social media site Weibo and on the news app Toutiao, many commenters are not just angered about the incident but also focus on China’s laws regarding the criminal responsibility of minors.

Some write: “Our criminal laws for minors should protect minors instead of protecting juvenile offenders!”

China’s criminal liability age is currently set at 14. Last month, Global Times reported on a proposal to lower the age of criminal liability in China from 14 to 12 in response to concerns about an alleged increase in juvenile violence.

“These minors need to be severely punished,” multiple commenters wrote: “Who knows who else they might hurt?”

By Manya Koetse
Follow @WhatsOnWeibo

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China Food & Drinks

Viral Video Exposes Wuhan Canteen Kitchen Food Malpractices

Boots in the food bowl, meat from the floor: this Wuhan college canteen is making a food safety mess.

Published

4 months ago

November 8, 2020

Manya Koetse

A video that exposes the poor food hygiene inside the kitchen of a Wuhan college canteen has been making its rounds on Chinese social media these days.

The video shows how a kitchen staff member picks up meat from the floor to put back in the tray, and how another kitchen worker uses rain boots to ‘wash’ vegetables in a big bowl on the ground, while another person is smoking.

The video was reportedly shot by someone visiting the canteen of the Wuhan Donghu University (武汉东湖学院) and was posted on social media on November 7.

According to various news sources, including Toutiao News, the school has confirmed that the video was filmed in their canteen, stating that those responsible for the improper food handling practices have now been fired.

Can imagine the students at Wuhan Donghu University were not happy to see this behind the scenes footage from their canteen – kitchen staff smoking, picking up food from the floor and putting it back in the tray, and using their boots to mix vegetables in the bowl 😵 pic.twitter.com/vV9NnsQX6v

— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 8, 2020

The Wuhan Donghu University also posted a statement on their Weibo account on November 8, saying it will strengthen the supervision of its canteen food handling practices.

“The students at this school will probably vomit once they see this footage,” some commenters on Weibo wrote.

Wuhan Donghu University is an undergraduate private higher education institution established in 2000. The school has approximately 16,000 full-time undergraduate students.

“I’m afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” one popular comment said, receiving over 25,000 likes.

Students from other universities also expressed concerns over the food handling practices in their own canteens, while some said they felt nauseous for having had lunch at the Wuhan canteen in question.

By Manya Koetse
Follow @WhatsOnWeibo