A senior student in Dongguan University of Techonology has given himself up to the police for killing a sophomore after a failed attempt to rape her. The would-be rapist surnamed Ao followed Liang Rongcai (梁荣彩), the victim, to the washroom and attempted to rape her. Encountered with Liang's resistence, Ao killed her and subsequently escaped. more ›

In the pictures we shared a week back of Yao Ming's first day in class, we interpreted his face as an open book of frustration and WTF? Turns out we were right on the money, as Yao himself admitted in a press conference he was "totally lost." more ›

Around 20 girls under the age of 18, including two under the age of 14, have had a prostitution ring of their own making uncovered in Shanghai's Zhabei district, after a customer who had his watch stolen reported the ring to local authorities. more ›

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It's all speculation at this point! Less than 24 hours after he announced his retirement, the Chinese media are going wild with rumors of what comes next. In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, when asked whether he'd consider going into business or politics like other retired athletes, Yao Ming responded: more ›

"EIGHT students told to quit a Beijing music school due to poor academic performances sought to commit suicide together, it was reported yesterday. One student from the Chinese Music Conservatory Middle School is being treated in the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital for attempted suicide; three have returned home; and four remain missing, the Beijing Times reported. The 10th-graders at the school's vocal department were told to leave before the end of August because they had failed more than one-third of their required courses. The 16-year-olds bought sleeping pills and decided to die together, according to the girl, who has not been named, receiving hospital treatment, the report said." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

The recent cold spell that swept across Guizhou and Hunan provinces have made roads impassable, stranded motorists and affected electricity supply in some areas. Here in the Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, local children are now carrying their own coal burners to school to help them stay warm. The burners come in different shapes and sizes -- some are made from disused tin cans and others from old washbasins. more ›

What that buys, according to Gady Epstein at Forbes: "Weekend classes, summer schools and small group trips over three to four years before they start school at American colleges. Their teachers at the program, the two-year-old Leadership Academy Shanghai, are mostly recent graduates from the best universities in China. The instruction style is bespoke and not very Confucian: very small classes, with students challenging their teachers." Oh yes, and not only bragging rights when your kid actually gets in, but the security of presuming he might actually be qualified to take over your family business when you retire - something the older generation apparently regards as priceless. more ›

Remember when text messaging wasn't that big of a deal? Way back before touch screens and T9, when your elders had barely gotten used to having a cellular phone on them? Well, the halcyon days of instant communication technology are long gone - if you're one of the "after 90" generation, you've grown up in constant contact with friends, family and the rest of the world. more ›

Bullying is a part of adolescent school life: it's sad and disheartening when you're singled out for being different in an unfamiliar place. But, then again, it's probably worse when the bullying is facilitated by a teacher. Sina has a bizarre story on the hazing of an eight year old student, started by his teacher and ultimately ending with him being likened to a monkey's red ass. more ›

The test prep industry in China is cutthroat, to put it nicely. The South China Morning Post published an article on the intense competition amongst private tutors in Hong Kong, which sounds so fierce and backstabbing that it's just begging for a reality television show (if one's not in the works already). Popular tutors can make as much as one million HKD a month, provided that they have the hype and publicity to keep the students flowing in. more ›

Despite the warm reception it got in the apparently more sexually open city of Nanjing, Shanghai's first sex-ed camp for kids fell flat. The course, which opened yesterday for children aged eight to 13, only managed to attract six male students and absolutely no females. It seems many parents were put off by the high cost: 2,880 yuan for just three days and others commented that this style of frankness “conflicts with Chinese people's cultural traditions.” Still, parents of the children who did go said it was worth it. “It's an information explosion age and there is much misleading information on the Internet,” opined one mother. “It's better for kids to be instructed by professionals.” Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

In a stroke of great news for historical architecture enthusiasts and fans of Shanghai jazz-era fiction, it looks like Eileen Chang's old middle/high school has been saved from becoming another set of skyscrapers! more ›

• China to expand 9-year compulsory education in ethnic minority regions [Xinhua] "By 2010, more than 95 percent of the population of China's ethnic autonomous areas should have access to the nine-year compulsory education, said the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010) released Monday by the Information Office of the State Council."
• Thai Protests Prevent Asian Summit [Washington Post] "Anti-government demonstrators forced the cancellation of a summit of Asian leaders Saturday when they invaded the meeting site in this Thai resort town. The summit was supposed to bring together the leaders of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, and Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea."
• In China, Effective Treatment Options for HIV, But Stigma Still Lingers [RH Reality Check] "Last year, South African Supreme Court Justice Edwin Cameron described HIV-related stigma in China as a "tragedy" for preventing people living with HIV from accessing what is otherwise a "very good treatment program." According to his data, whilst between 35,000 and 40,000 HIV-positive people in China are effectively receiving treatment, more than twice that number are unwilling to be tested or receive test results because of fear of stigma and remain untreated."

An 11-year-old girl has mysteriously jumped to her death at school this morning, the first day she returned from the Spring Festival vacation. At around 8:50am, right after her first class, the girl jumped off from the sixth floor of Shanghai Children's Dream Experiment School. A teacher told Xinmin.cn that the girl had been unhappy with her mother, and that the two had a “strained relationship” during the winter holiday. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

A student after a school performance washing the make up from his face. more ›