CCP Pays College Students to Spy on Classmates and Report Virus Lockdown Violations

On May 11, 2022, a college in Zhengzhou posted new virus lockdown measures that include paying students $740 for reporting violations of their fellow students. (The Epoch Times composite photo)

The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) epidemic control and lockdown measures are becoming increasingly restrictive and this includes on college campuses across China. Most recently, a college in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, introduced a new policy that pays students $740 each time they report on a classmate leaving the campus without permission. Offering students a reward to spy on each other distracts them from their studies and incites distrust, fear, and anger between them.

An article published on May 15 by The Paper, a CCP newspaper, described a new effort by the Fashion School in Henan Institute of Engineering to prevent students from leaving its campus. School administrators posted a notice on May 11 announcing that students who report other students climbing over the campus enclosure wall would be "rewarded" $740. Students who climb over the wall will be expelled or persuaded to leave the school, and those who fail to report them will be placed on probation.

The new policy was posted after students from Henan University of Economics and Law left the campus and were punished for violating the school’s lockdown rules. On the campus of Jiangsu University, 36 students were punished for leaving campus and violating the school’s lockdown rules.

Many of China’s colleges have instituted similar rules during the lockdown.

A student with Nanchang University in Jiangxi Province, Zhou Jinyan (a pseudonym), told The Epoch Times, "There are more and more school rules now, such as punishing students for not wearing masks in the bathroom or shower, and punishing them for not taking off their masks during nucleic acid screening, etc. Schools are also encouraging students to report on each other, which is actually strict monitoring and a complete loss of freedom. More importantly, this does not allow students to think independently. Students are fearful of being expelled. The expelled students are pitiful, but the parents of the expelled students are even more pitiful.”

Commenting further, Jinyan said, "The school has been in lockdown for more than two months, and I don't know when it will be lifted. Everyone feels insecure because there are so many eyes watching them. It's really hard to leave campus. It's easy to leave without teachers knowing, but it's very hard to hide from classmates."

Two students from Jiangxi Water Resources Institute, also in Nanchang City, were expelled for trying to climb the school’s high walls to leave the campus. After that incident, school officials draped barbed wire over the walls to deter students from further attempts to escape.

A retired teacher in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, Lu Wen (a pseudonym), offered this insight to The Epoch Times. He said the CCP has been relying on lies and incitement to deceive the public and threats to suppress independent-minded people for decades. “Schools are supposed to be a place to train people, but the CCP has turned them into a place to train lackeys. Whoever obeys is a good person, otherwise, they are the target of the CCP's suppression. Students are allowed to report on each other and fight each other. The CCP is using money to buy people's hearts and minds, and some people will do anything for money, totally losing their human conscience. While the CCP is creating hatred, it is also creating terror and [putting] pressure on the students.”

Commentator Li Yiming told the Epoch Times that having students report on each other is the method the CCP has always used to keep students under surveillance while trying to reduce costs. This makes every student a potential secret police officer, and destroys the most basic trust among them. By the time they graduate and enter society, they have lost trust in people and consider others to be enemies. The CCP continues to destroy the most basic moral ethics of the Chinese people.