Social Stability - 8. page

An imbalance in educational resources in the Chinese city of Xi’an sparked intense debate last week. Parents sought answers from the local education authorities, asking why so many students from other provinces took the high school entrance exam (zhongkao) in the city this year.

After the Xi’an government released the results of the zhongkao (senior high school entrance examination) results on July 14th, rumors circulated that 40,000 of the 100,000 exam takers were “returning students” – students who came to Xi’an just to take the exam, hoping to later take the Xi’an gaokao (college entrance exam) because Xi’an has a lower college admission cutoff than other areas. This would potentially enable test takers to get into better universities.

Experts believe that the trend of allowing outsiders to take exams locally is “irreversible” in most cities, saying that authorities should be rational about zhongkao and gaokao migration and be more transparent about “returning student” data.

Xi’an officials responded last week, claiming only 3,608 “returning students,” or 3.5% of exam takers, took the zhongkao in Xi’an. The parents of local students, who were not convinced by the official data, protested against unfair use of local resources by outsiders. After widespread pushback from parents, Xi’an authorities launched an investigation. By Monday, police had detained 40 people for providing false registration information to ineligible students.

The “returning students” benefited from Xi’an’s 2017 household registration (hukou) reforms, which allowed non-local children of Xi’an hukou holders working elsewhere to take exams in Xi’an. The reforms also granted Xi’an hukou to outsider talent, making their children eligible to take Xi’an school tests as “returning students.”

Experts say the core issue at play is unequal distribution of educational resources nationwide, with college admission cutoff lines being different from one province to another. This gives rise to the phenomenon of “zhongkao migration.”

Authorities have vowed to verify each “returning student’s” eligibility and cancel admissions obtained fraudulently. By Monday, police had cracked down on institutions providing false services to ineligible students.

Source: BBC, July 24, 2023
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-66291281

During the Dragon Boat Festival at Peking University in China, a protester displayed slogans opposing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) authoritarian regime. The individual, dressed in a tan robe, held up a sign near the cafeteria on campus calling for the abolition of the one-party dictatorship and the adoption of a multi-party system. The protester voluntarily included his social media account information on the sign, which pointed to YouTube and Twitter accounts registered in May 2023. The accounts identified the protester as Zhang Sheng, a self-described Chinese writer.

Pictures and posts on Twitter documented the incident, showing the protester being escorted away by the university’s security personnel. When questioned about the event, Peking University’s security department neither confirmed nor denied the incident.

This protest marked a resurgence of criticism against China’s political system and demands for multi-party rule at Peking University, where similar demonstrations had taken place during the 1989 Students Movement. Notably, this demonstration occurred in the same location where students had protested against the “zero COVID” policy in November of the previous year. It is important to highlight that the “zero COVID” policy was subsequently abolished ten days after university students, including those from Peking University and Tsinghua University, expressed their opposition to it by holding up white papers.

The recent protest at Peking University aimed to challenge the one-party rule and promote political reform through the establishment of a multi-party system. Despite attempts to ascertain the whereabouts of the detained student by contacting the university’s security department, that department neither confirmed nor denied the event. This incident serves as a reminder of the ongoing tensions between dissenting voices and the Chinese government’s control over political expression on university campuses.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 22, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/gt-06222023233902.html

According to the “2022 China National Mental Health Report” released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a comprehensive survey was conducted on nearly 80,000 university students to assess their mental health. The findings of the report revealed that the detected rates of depression and anxiety risks were approximately 21.48 percent and 45.28 percent respectively.

Furthermore, a study published in the journal “Frontiers in Psychology” delved into the mental health status of approximately 100,000 university students from 43 cities and 23 universities across the nation. The study revealed that the average prevalence of mental disorders among these students was 22.8 percent.

Another domestic study shed light on the psychological stress experienced by university students, with a staggering 73.2 percent of participants reporting varying degrees of stress. The study identified academic pressure and uncertainty as the primary contributors to mental health impacts.

Notably, students who perceive high academic pressure face a 1.43 times higher risk of developing mental disorders. Moreover, uncertainty stress, which stems from the ambiguity surrounding present and future development, was reported by approximately 54 percent of university students. The risk of mental health issues associated with uncertainty stress was found to be 2.55 times higher compared to other stress factors.

Furthermore, it was revealed that one-fourth of university students lack social support, an essential factor in maintaining good mental health. Research has demonstrated that the absence of social support has become a significant contributing factor to mental health problems among university students. Specifically, a study that focused on Chinese university students revealed  that over one-fourth of them lacked sufficient social support.

Source: ifeng.com, May 25, 2023
https://news.ifeng.com/c/8Q4lx0sgK17

A new wave of COVID, led by the XBB variant, is spreading in China. Zhong Nanshan (钟南山), a Chinese government endorsed COVID expert, stated this week that this wave – the second COVID pandemic in China – started in late April. He said the simulation model showed it will reach its peak by the end of June and by then each week there will be 65 million people who got infected. There were 5 million people infected each week in the U.S. during its worse time in 2022. Zhong mentioned this wave was expected.

Beijing has been low-key in reporting the second COVID wave, since it has been focusing on stabilizing its economy.

Source: Voice of America, May 26, 2023
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-faces-a-new-covid-wave-that-could-peak-at-65-million-cases-a-week-052523/7108934.html