Beating The Bullies

Teachers and officials make a stand against violence in schools By Lu Yan

In early January, a video in which a teenage girl is beaten by several other girls in what looks like a school dormitory went viral in China. One of the perpetrators stamps on the girl’s head while others kick her in the back and legs. The victim is told to stay on the floor, kneeling, with her mouth bleeding and face covered in bruises.

Later, local police and the Education Bureau of Ningdu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, where the incident took place, ran an investigation and made public their findings. The girl was attacked by seven of her classmates after reporting them to a teacher for smoking. The assault was, apparently, their way of getting “pay back.” The offending students were subsequently punished by the school in accordance with the severity of their behavior.

As the episode unfolded, many people took to the Internet to express their opinions. Some were appalled by the girls’ behavior, and felt that punishment meted out by the school was far from strict enough. “Those bullies should be sent to prison and get permanent criminal records,” one netizen wrote on Weibo in a comment on the video.

Public concern

School bullying is not a new topic of debate in China, but a forum mainstay which has drawn increasing attention in recent years as the Internet has brought more cases into view of the public.

Ding Yan, Executive Director of the Hubei Pride and Bright Law Firm, told Beijing Review that there are multiple reasons behind the phenomenon. Many Chinese students of this generation are the only child in their family, and being the apple of their parents’ eye has made them spoiled and selfish, sometimes resorting to violence when they feel things are not going in their way.

Ding also noted that schools must also shoulder more responsibility for instances of bullying on campus. Some teachers fail to pay enough attention to students, while others are afraid of being accused of prescribing inappropriate or excessive punishments, so they turn a blind eye to the things that are happening on their watch.

“Students may also be influenced by books, video games and movies that include elements of violence, thinking that it’s ‘cool’ to imitate,” Ding said. “They are too young to distinguish right from wrong.”

Zheng Yuying, a 27-year-old sales representative, still remembers the time when she was bullied during high school. She described feeling hopeless being constantly laughed at and called names by her classmates.

“For a long time, I didn’t know what I had done wrong and I blamed myself,” she said. Zheng told Beijing Review how she has since suffered from depression, which she does not believe is entirely attributable to her classmates’ treatment of her, but is nonetheless convinced that the bullying has made it worse.

“It doesn’t necessarily take everyone insulting you to make you feel bad. The apathy and indifference of those who do nothing hurts too,” Zheng said.

Now Zheng lives a fulfilling life and has a more objective view on her past. She has a message for those who are still suffering at the hands of school bullies. “The abusers are children who are not strong enough at heart and try to make themselves feel better by picking on others who are ‘different.’ But being different is not a bad thing, people should remember that,” she said.

Official efforts

School bullying has already caught the attention of educators, and progress is now being made among policymakers as well. During the annual full sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, commonly