Some students from the Yunnan Traffic Technician College in Kunming have recently incited netizen anger. As posted on Sina Weibo yesterday, the above picture shows a street urchin standing on another’s back to grab a bottle on a string, which they can exchange for 1/20th of one yuan. Why is the bottle on a string? Apparently, college students put it there to taunt the children, dangling 0.05 yuan tantalizingly out of reach. China Daily tells us, “The children said they live in a village near the college, get up at 7 am to collect recyclable garbage, and sell them to make money. Among the children is a girl nicknamed Shasha, whose father works at the college as a cleaner and mother collects garbage.”
“Big brother, toss the bottle!” the kids have been heard calling to the students. When the students chose not to, the young’uns took matters into their own hands, learning a valuable life lesson in the process about initiative and perseverance. We can only hope Yunnan Traffic Technician College teaches half that much.
(H/T David B.)
