November 30, 2007 3:38
Angry Students on Campus...
One of the more under-reported stories in China is the discontent that many students at second tier universities feel. Over the past couple of years, there have been several cases of unrest over issues that speak to the economic insecurity that many of China’s young people feel—particularly if they don’t go to elite universities like Fudan or Tsinghua. Here’s the latest, from a military school in Anhui. The apparent issue here, as it’s been in a few other of these violent outbursts over the last couple of years, is whether the diploma the students receive from the school is legitimate—ie, will it be recognized as such by prospective employers (particularly government employers)-- or whether, as the RFA dispatch reprinted here in its entirety puts it, the diploma “is fake.”
HONG KONG—Thousands of military academy students in central China’s Anhui province are rioting after news spread that the government wouldn’t recognize diplomas awarded to the fee-paying students, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.“It was total chaos. Many people were beaten and were bleeding. The school buildings are a mess,” one student, surnamed Peng, told RFA’s Mandarin service.
“There is a 15-story building on campus. It’s been vacated. The iron doors in the corridors were smashed. In the morning armed police and police cars arrived to restore order. Their attempts were futile. Police cars were overturned,” Peng said.
“Even the automatic iron gates on campus were wrecked. The situation is really tense now. I hear that either tomorrow or the day after the Nanjing Military Region will send personnel to restore order.”
The rioting began Nov. 28 and worsened Nov. 29, witnesses said. Classes have been cancelled and windows smashed. It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone had been injured.
The Hefei PLA Artillery Academy comprises three types of students: Fully registered cadets with military status, fully registered students without military status studying for civil degrees, and self-funding “contract students,” according to the academy's Web site.
“The students rioted because they are angry that their diplomas are fake,” Peng said, estimating that 6,000 to 7,000 self-funded students had joined the rioting. “The school sent military personnel to mediate. The students beat them and drove them away—even the military officers. Everyone is like an angry lion now.”A female administrator at the Academy confirmed that rioting was going on. Asked if the rioters were students, she replied that all were students from “the sixth department… They are informal students without military status.”
A teacher at the academy, surnamed Ren, denied that rioting had occurred but added, “It could happen to any school. There are always some students who do not want to study. Right?”
“The majority of the students are good students. Those [who do not like to study] will be severely dealt with. What do the students know? Including the seniors. They have not even gotten their diplomas yet.”
“Only a small number of students with their own agenda were fanning the fire. I have told you too much already. If you are a reporter, I advise you not to touch things related to a military academy,” Ren said.
Some students have posted complaints online indicating that that they had started rioting because neither the Education Ministry nor the Military Commission would recognize their diplomas. “On no account enroll at the Artillery Academy. On no account enroll at the Academy’s sixth department,” said one posting.
About The China Blog
Simon Elegant was born in Hong Kong and since then China has pretty much always been at the center of his life. Read more
Liam Fitzpatrick was born in Hong Kong and joined TIME in 2003. He edits Global Adviser for TIME Asia. Read more
Ling Woo Liu worked as a television reporter in Beijing and moved to Hong Kong to report for TIME Asia. Read more
Bill Powell is a senior writer for TIME in Shanghai. He'd been Chief International correspondent for Fortune in Beijing, then NYC. Read more
Austin Ramzy studied Mandarin in China and has a degree in Asian Studies. He has reported for TIME Asia in Hong Kong since 2003. Read more
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Reader Comments (12)
Law and Order
If the reporting from Radio Free Asia were accurate (it's a big IF given the organization's anti-China stance and habitual distortion of facts), the court system is well equipped dealing with this sort of thing in a fair and just way.
Whether a school's diploma is recognized or not is at the discretion of the Department of Education. If there is dispute about the decision, the affected students should resolve the issue either through administrative agency or in the court. If anyone decides to resort to violence, he should be brought to justice. On the point of law and order, it is exactly the same in China as in the United States: anyone who breaks the law shall be brought to justice.
Posted by Anonymous | November 30, 2007 4:00 AM
Law and Order,
I find myself in agreement with Anonymous on a number of issues. First, in China and in the United States, issues are arising as to the incomptence of governments on basic issues. For the Chinese and the United States, right now it is issues of trying to bring competence to the educational situation,the environment and other bread and butter issues. Right now there is a great deal of skepticism about whether each of these governments possesses the intelligence to walk and chew gum at the same time. Under each country's present regime, such a task maybe asking too much.
I do agree with Anonymous that the judicial system in each country is more alike than people would care to admit. In both countries, if anyone breaks the law, then they will be brought to justice, but if they are rich, they will be excused and admonished, if they are middle-class, they might be sent to a drug rehabilitation center, and if they are poor, they are sent to prison for life imprisonment!!
Posted by Dr. Steve Watkins | November 30, 2007 10:36 AM
Thou shall not talk about Chinese court system and the words "fair and just" in the same breath. It is damaging to your health.
There are all sorts of licences, diplomas, denials, consents, agreements, contracts, etc. issued by the Chinese government, organizations, companies, and they don't worth the paper they were written on. Let the buyers be aware. The department of education may recognize an institution and the diplomas they issue. Other government agencies can still refuse to hire any of them, and so do all companies.
If you call the system in China "law and order", you really don't understand what "law and order" means, much less what the systems are in any other country, not just the US. Pakistan has better law and order than China.
"Getting away with it" is the prime objective with most Chinese, if not all, about "law and order" as one has too many unofficial channels to get away with it. Greasing the palm is only one of them. The Chinese government even recognize payment by sexual favors as one more channel, albeit "illegal" and need other kinds of favors to cover. With public attitudes like that, there is no hope for any real "law and order" possible in China.
Posted by John Smith | November 30, 2007 10:39 AM
The Chronicle of Higher Education, when commenting on this incident, said, "China has experienced an increasingly competitive job market in recent years as a result of rapid growth in the number of students going to college. Major universities around the country have set up subsidiary programs at smaller colleges, offering students who fail in the competitive university exam a back-door way of obtaining a big-name degree. But the central government has begun to shut down such programs, leaving many students empty-handed upon graduation."
The Chronicle also reported another incident in June 2004 when angry students and parents demonstrated in front of Shanghai's Fudan University after the university withdrew support for a series of courses in a certificate program offered by one of its departments and expelled 700 to 800 students who had enrolled in them.
Posted by Catherine | December 1, 2007 1:05 AM
The problems in the Chinese higher education system are stemmed from two things: greed and vanity. Greed on the part of the university faculty and personnels and vanity on the part of students and parents in getting a diploma that they know is worthless. The vanity feeds into the greed perfectly---directly into the faculty's wallets. The Chinese higher education system is expanding exponentially -- well rivals the stock market of the country, and just as well out of sync with its fundamentals. The schools know that they don't have the resources to educate the number of students they are accepting, but those "out-of-plan" students will bring them hard cash, who cares? The parents of those "out-of-plan" students know that their children will not receive proper education, but since they are paying, their feel entitled to a camouflage of the university name on the diploma. I have meet so many China-educated science PhDs who cannot even design a basic experiment properly, even their advisers cannot design an experiment properly; but they all become solid numbers in the country's statistics. The solution is to return the education system back to not-for-profit status, tune down the expectations of both the government and the public, and divert 50% of the resources current allocated to "universities" to a more properly oriented technical training system, something similar to the community colleges in the U.S.. This way, students knows what they are getting into, and employers know who they are hiring, and the country fills the critical voids in the talent pools of basic trades and all sorts of bolt-n-nuts professions.
Posted by bystander | December 1, 2007 11:15 AM
To Mr. Bill Powell,
Please cite a more credible source than Radio Free Asia next time, unless this is the best source you manage to provide.
Posted by Anonymous | December 2, 2007 2:36 AM
Someone has posted a video about the incident. Here is the link:
http://club.zhaowo.cc/user/script/forum/view.asp?article_id=3955053
Would someone be able to verify?
Posted by Catherine | December 2, 2007 8:51 PM
Sounds like RFA is way more credible, reliable and truthful than Xinhua, Chinadaily and People's Daily, unless you are talking about credibility Chinese style.
Posted by John Smith | December 3, 2007 6:24 PM
Re: posts on Law & Order and China/US
A bit comical to see China explain its problems with a comparison to the US. Law and order, as the civilized world knows it, doesn’t really exist in China, just the words are thrown around. The US can be said to have become overdeveloped and is dealing with the effects of that, China is still developing and trying to act like they are at par with the developed nations.
Posted by Price Smith | December 4, 2007 3:01 AM
About law and order;
China keeps saying that ‘no-one’ is to interfere with their internal affairs. Unfortunately much of what is said makes no sense because it is not based on anything. When other countries help a homeless Dali Lhama who had been stripped of his position and banished from his homeland, how is this interfering in China`s internal affairs?
Law and order?? China is dealing with an era of self serving expressions and ideas with the objective of merely saving face, nothing to do with the justice of laws nor the concept of order. China is better to come up with its own words to describe what they say they mean, because they do not follow the meanings of established words, such as law and order.
Posted by Sam Steed | December 4, 2007 3:09 AM
omg how did this eva happen jk this is bogus lol
hint this was a joke i am a american duh
Posted by vicky | December 6, 2007 11:25 AM
The incident has again raised questions about how many student joined the window-smarshing,and how the chaos dealt with .
i think the new above is pretty dubious.
By the way, even if a fearful demonstration breakout,it's nothing.i really admire the jounalist's sensitivity of Radio Free Asia----PRETTY NASTY.
Posted by haiboss | December 12, 2007 8:08 PM