In October last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping outlined ambitious plans of lifting 70 million Chinese out of poverty by 2020—with a particular emphasis on the young. But when it comes to what actually takes place on the ground in China, the reality is rather different.
Below are two recent cases where schoolchildren who were originally the target of poverty relief efforts were tricked or extorted by officials or their teachers, triggering outrage online.
A Donation Minus Lunch Costs
About a month after Xi’s speech, a company in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province in eastern China, decided to donate 1,200 yuan (about $183) to 30 poor students at the Song Temple Elementary School in Yongqiao District, Anhui. Days before the donation was officially handed out, however, Party officials at the school summoned the parents of the student recipients and outlined the strange conditions for the gift.
“School officials told us that we must treat the company representatives to lunch, since they came all the way here to make such a donation,” a parent going by the pseudonym Wang Ming told Anhuinews.com, the official mouthpiece of the local government.
“Then they told us that because the school was short on funds, the children getting the donation must pay for lunch.”
The school demanded 200 yuan (about $30) from each student candidate for donation—about 16 percent of the donation.
When she refused the request, Wang said she was told that the school would choose another child for the donation. Upon hearing that, Wang said that all parents simply turned up and silently forked over their 200 yuan.
Attending the lunch were company representatives, school officials, and the 30 students, as well as local Party officials.
The story quickly went viral on Chinese social media, leading to the headmaster Ma Jijie being fired.
