One October afternoon after school, two primary school girls in Funan, Anhui province made a pact to kill themselves in their empty classroom. Before drinking the poison that they hoped would lead to their death, the students scrawled "blame our deaths on our math teacher" on their classroom's blackboard. After being treated in the hospital, the girls explained that they were upset that the teacher "deliberately found fault in the girl's work after the two did not attend their make-up lessons." The teacher denies these allegations. more ›

In a video spreading like wildfire around the 'nets, two students who reportedly caused their class's school bus to leave late are forced by their teacher to stand for five minutes and repeatedly hit each other across the face. more ›

On October 31st in Cixi, Zhejiang province, a primary school teacher frustrated with his talkative students decided to take action by forcing three young boys to run around the school's track with their pants around their ankles. To make matters worse, the teacher assigned young girls to "supervise" the punishment of the boys. more ›

• Primary school students expelled for gambling ring in Guangdong [Zhongnanhai] "There were many cars waiting outside the Huadong (Dongguan, Guangdong Province) Senior High School gate over the last two days. Parents were waiting to take their kids back home, permanently. Over a hundred students in grades one and two have been involved in basketball gambling. All of them have been expelled from school."
• Saint Laurent Chinese Qing Bronzes Fetch $40 Million [Bloomberg] "Both made 15.7 million euros with fees, or 14 million euros at hammer price. The sculptures had been expected to fetch about 8 million euros each, said Christie’s. They were bought by Thomas Seydoux, Christie’s international co-head of Impressionist and modern art, taking instructions over the telephone."
• China keeps wary eye on displaced migrant workers [International Herald Tribune] "Although the government has not released updated information about rural unrest, officials have been strategizing about how best to keep large protests and riots from spreading, should the dispossessed grow unruly. This week, more than 3,000 public security directors from across the country are gathering in the capital to learn how to neutralize rallies and strikes before they blossom into so-called 'mass incidents.' At a meeting of the Chinese cabinet last month, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told government leaders they should prepare for rough times ahead. 'The country's employment situation is extremely grim,' he said."