http://www.straitstimes.com/Asia/China/Story/STIStory_124027.html
May 30, 2007
Outcry over students abusing teacher
BEIJING - AN ONLINE video clip of two students abusing a 70-year-old teacher has triggered an uproar in China, state press said yesterday.
The video was shot by a student at a Beijing school a week ago.
It shows a boy approaching his teacher and then slamming the man's hat down over his face before returning to his seat, the Beijing News reported.
Later, another boy threw a plastic bottle at the teacher as students in the classroom burst out laughing, it said.
The five-minute video was later posted on a blog and picked up by numerous websites, drawing angry outbursts from Internet surfers who were shocked at the audacity of the Chinese youths.
Some even went to the school to reprimand the students and express support for the teacher, the paper said.
The teacher, Mr Sun Xingmao, who teaches history, politics and geography at the vocational school, did not want to discuss the incident.
He said the students have already apologised and have been excused. To many Chinese, the incident is likely to act as an uncomfortable reminder of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, which saw similar scenes of students humiliating and beating up their teachers. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
