China education

When Xiaohao, a pseudonym, was a freshman in high school, his peers spent months bullying him emotionally and physically, including repeated instances of sexual assault. All because he is gay.  In the most harrowing incident, Xiaohao was stripped naked, pinned to the ground and forced to watch pornography while someone stimulated his genitals. The bullies filmed the incident.  He remembered one of the abusers asked, “Shouldn’t this give you pleasure since you are gay?”  Xiaohao, who made his experience public last Saturday, routinely asked for help from the school administrators, who told him to endure it.  “I am a homosexual. My dorm-mates bullied me. But the teachers asked me to put up wit

A Chinese lawmaking official has suggested that the country consider mandatory marriage and dating courses in universities to reduce tragedies caused by toxic relationships.  Yu Xinwei, a legislative deputy from the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, said college students are less likely to commit “extreme acts” with “a proper understanding of love and relationships.” The proposal comes as a series of high-profile homicides and suicides have captured society’s attention.   In October 2019, a female student from the esteemed school Peking University killed herself after her boyfriend repeatedly humiliated her because she had had sex before meeting him. Some Chinese men still con

Once deemed the “most beautiful” teacher in her school, an educator in the eastern Chinese municipality Tianjin can no longer teach after discriminating against students based on the social status of their parents.  The teacher, surnamed Xiao, was reassigned after an audio recording emerged of her telling a student, “If I told you that the annual income of [the student] Zhao Ting’s mother is equal to what your mother earns in 50 years, do you think your qualities can be the same [as hers]? They can’t be!” The incident happened when students were too talkative during exams, which Xiao blamed on parents who had lower incomes than previous classrooms she had taught.  She said her previous stud

As China begins to overhaul how the country learns about sex in school, a flurry of new proposals suggests that educating children about sexual assault will be a top priority.  On Tuesday, two days ahead of the “two-sessions,” China’s all-important legislative meeting, several lawmaking deputies put forward proposals that would require all primary and middle schools to teach sexual assault deterrent classes. The proposals are follow-ups on a revision of a law protecting minors that will require schools and pre-schools to provide children “age-appropriate” sex education. The law will take effect on June 1. For the most part, the proposals said boys and girls would be taught the sexual assaul

A Chinese provincial government's directive banning schools from giving homework to young students in the interests of a more balanced life has sparked controversy. Last week, a Department of Education in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province issued orders forbidding schools from giving written homework to students in grades one and two (around ages 6-8). It also banned schools from allowing students in grades three to six (ages 8-12) to do more than one hour a day of homework while, for students in grades seven to nine (ages 12-15), 90 minutes was the maximum time per day they could spend on it each day, the department said. The rule is not new, but simply a reinforcement of an earlier reg

The Chinese government is getting tough on schools after a growing body of evidence shows students are severely sleep-deprived.  Education Minister Chen Baosheng said lack of sleep was taking a toll on China’s children, and the government would add sleep time in its annual appraisal of schools.  A 2019 study from the Chinese Sleep Research Society showed that 63% of Chinese children aged between 6 to 17 get less than eight hours of sleep a night due to the heavy burden of homework. The number goes up to 81% among teenagers aged between 13 to 17.  “I think compared with their counterparts in Northern Europe and Australia, kids in East Asian countries like China, Japan and South Korea all lack

Chinese authorities have banned cellphones in classrooms and school grounds effective immediately in an effort to protect students from digital addiction and save their eyesight. The ban will apply to all schoolchildren across the country.  Chinese students will only be allowed to bring a mobile device to school only under special circumstances. However, during class, all devices would be surrendered to the teachers, said the ministry on its website on Monday. Aimed at “protecting the students’ eyesight and making them focus on study,” the ministry’s new rule strived to prevent student addiction to the internet while enhancing their physical and psychological development, the directive detai

International schools in China are riding a wave of popularity as cautious parents prioritize the safety of their children over education. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally – with many countries continuing restrictive lockdowns to stop the spread of the disease – and many students studying abroad forced to return home – Chinese parents are now seeking alternatives to sending them abroad for a western-style education.  “Parents always put their children’s safety as first priority, followed by an academic level of the schools,” said Wu Yue, founder and chief executive of New School Insight (NSI) Media. As a result, international schools in China are now seen as the

In China, a regional education department was forced to issue a directive warning teachers that they are responsible for checking students’ homework after widespread complaints from parents.  There have been grumblings from parents in China that they are tasked with doing more and more of the teachers’ work after school, such as correcting homework or reading dictation exercises for their kids.  Liaoning’s education department said teachers who ask parents or students to correct homework risk losing the qualifications necessary for promotion or awards competitions. The order followed similar instructions from other local governments in places like Shandong and Shanxi provinces. Parents acro

Every Tuesday and Thursday, China Trends takes the pulse of the Chinese social media to keep you in the loop of what the world’s biggest internet population is talking about. A reminder of past humiliation Every Chinese schoolchild knows the story of the Old Summer Palace. The palace was built throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries and featured a beautiful staircase leading into the main entrance overlooking a lavish garden. Located on Beijing’s outskirts, it was the perfect retreat for Chinese emperors looking for a respite from the bustling capital. In 1860 it was burned to the ground and looted by French and British troops during the Second Opium War. It has become a source of nati