In 2022, girl Xiao Hao was admitted to Erguna City No. 2 Middle School. By around June 10, 2025, her mother noticed that her mental state was not good, she appeared dazed, did not eat well, refused to go to school during the day, and stayed awake in bed at night. “I asked the child what was wrong, but she didn’t say anything.” On June 19, she reported this to the teacher, but received no answer. Her mother thought about the issue and found some suspicious signs—“From early June to around the 20th, the child asked for money more than ten times, each time about thirty to fifty yuan, and once as much as 600 yuan.” On June 19, Xiao Hao asked her aunt for 600 yuan, but the reason she gave was very far-fetched. Her aunt was uneasy and went to the school on June 20 to find out the situation. A classmate said that her daughter had been beaten by a female classmate, Gao, for a long time and was already afraid of her. “After asking repeatedly, the child said that the money was for her classmate, who demanded it and would beat her if she didn’t give it. She claimed to have been beaten many times by Gao, pulling her hair and hitting walls, punching and kicking, slapping, and insulting her.” Her mother learned about the situation from her daughter’s aunt on the evening of June 21, and immediately contacted the homeroom teacher, Li.
On the morning of June 22, Xiao Hao’s parents and her aunt went to the school to check the surveillance footage. They first found the teacher, who suggested they contact the school leaders, and they chose to report to the police. The police arrived and coordinated with the school to retrieve the surveillance footage. “We only saw the footage from June 20 that day. The video has sound. It was suspected that Gao was in a bad mood because she didn’t do well on her exam, and Xiao Hao went to comfort her. Before she could speak, Gao slapped her twice.” “The daughter said that the other party threatened her that if she didn’t play with Gao, Gao would beat her.” Xiao Hao’s mother wanted to see footage from other times, but the school refused, citing student privacy. What student privacy could be involved in public place surveillance? The school’s explanation is completely to cover up the bullying behavior, preventing them from understanding the truth of the incident, and preventing the oppressed from fighting back or resisting. It also shows that Xiao Hao was bullied, and the school is entirely siding with the oppressors in trying to suppress the truth.
A student who had been beaten by Gao confirmed, “Gao hit me less, but she often beat Xiao Hao. Gao wouldn’t let Xiao Hao and I play together; if we did, she would get beaten. She didn’t dare to fight back. This semester, she was beaten several times a week.” “At first, Gao tore Xiao Hao’s books and papers, and later she just beat her. All in front of classmates, and some classmates reported to school leaders, but nothing came of it.” On the afternoon of June 23, Xiao Hao’s parents and others went to the school again, demanding full surveillance footage, but the school still refused. They reported the case to the police for investigation. Around June 28, police informed them to check the footage, which showed that from May 7 to June 20, Xiao Hao was beaten by Gao 13 times. Xiao Hao’s mother said, “Sometimes it was slaps, sometimes punches and kicks, sometimes pushing, shoving, and choking. My daughter never fought back.” “What I can’t accept most is that when Gao beat my daughter around 6 p.m. on May 21, Vice Principal Lin happened to pass by but did nothing.” “This is what the surveillance shows, and there are many more that haven’t been checked. I don’t know how many times my daughter was beaten at school.”
According to Xiao Hao’s mother, in 2022, her parents worked outside, and Xiao Hao stayed at relatives’ house, during which she suffered from mild depression. After treatment with medication in 2023, she recovered, and her mother returned home to care for her. “My daughter had already recovered at that time, but now she has schizophrenia, which should be related to school bullying.” By late June 2025, Xiao Hao planned to take the high school entrance exam, but after this incident, her mental state deteriorated, and she was forced to withdraw from the exam. On June 24, her parents thought she was depressed and took her to a hospital in Harbin, Heilongjiang, for treatment. On July 9, due to poor treatment effects and fluctuating emotions, they decided to discharge her. “Our family isn’t well-off financially, and we originally planned to take her home to rest.” On August 25, they raised 20,000 yuan and took Xiao Hao to a mental health hospital in Hulunbuir, where she was diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia. “The doctor analyzed that it might be caused by excessive fright at school, and the chance of recovery is very low; only medication can be tried.” But bourgeois hospitals only promote victim-blaming, claiming that the victim’s suffering and despair are caused by the victim’s own “mental illness” or “psychological disorder,” using expensive, symptomatic treatment to drain the patient’s resources. Xiao Hao’s suffering cannot be cured in bourgeois hospitals because her pain is a direct result of capitalist society.
According to the “Administrative Penalty Decision” issued by Erguna City Public Security Bureau on July 22, Gao, female, 15 years old. From May 7 to June 20, 2025, she repeatedly beat Xiao Hao in the classroom and corridor outside the classroom at Erguna City No. 2 Middle School. The police confirmed that Gao beat Xiao Hao 13 times in total. According to Article 43, Paragraph 2, Item (3) of China’s “Law of Public Security Administration Punishments,” Gao was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for assault and fined 1,000 yuan. Since Gao was over 14 but under 16, according to Article 21, Item (1) of the same law, the detention was not to be enforced. Initially, Gao’s parents offered to compensate 50,000 yuan and sought reconciliation with Xiao Hao’s family. However, Xiao Hao’s family wanted Gao to be legally punished and refused reconciliation, stating, “Gao assaulted my daughter 13 times, causing her mental health issues. Although she was sentenced to 15 days of detention, it was not enforced, which I find unacceptable.” A recording of conversations between family members and officials from Erguna Education Bureau shows that the principal was admonished; the vice principal received a warning, with a six-month suspension of awards and honors; the homeroom teacher was warned, had awards and promotions canceled, was transferred from the homeroom position, and underwent teacher ethics and conduct training. This kind of superficial punishment can only be described as “self-discipline.” In the capitalist society of China, school principals and leaders are usually senior professionals, and such “punishments” are just internal talks among colleagues, a superficial gesture to prevent further trouble.
On October 27, a reporter from Huashang Daily Dafeng News attempted to contact relevant officials at Erguna No. 2 Middle School. The person in charge said Xiao Hao and Gao are very good friends at school, often walking to and from school together, eating together, and they have had physical conflicts but quickly reconciled. “Each conflict was very short, so it’s hard to determine whether a real conflict occurred or who bullied whom. The last conflict was on June 18, and the next two days they got along well.” “The school has anti-bullying reporting email and other channels, but no one in the class reported Xiao Hao being bullied by Gao.” The official also said that after receiving feedback from parents, the school mediated between both sides, but did not mention Gao asking Xiao Hao for money. “When we mediated, the parents reported to the police, so we cooperated with the police investigation. The police did not disclose evidence to us.” When asked whether Xiao Hao and Gao had a conflict or if Xiao Hao actively fought back or hit Gao, the official said, “From the surveillance, there was no such situation. You say Gao is dominant, but these two kids are good friends, and Xiao Hao doesn’t play with others.” These lies are completely in favor of defending the bully and completely dismissing the school’s tolerance and concealment of the truth. It is clear that previous reports from classmates about bullying were ignored, yet in his words, it becomes “no one reported Xiao Hao being bullied by Gao”; “no mention of Gao asking Xiao Hao for money”—has the extorted money disappeared? “Xiao Hao doesn’t play with others” is clearly a cover-up for Gao’s beating and threatening Xiao Hao not to play with others. The person also claimed that after the incident, they established a campus bullying prevention committee, which concluded that this incident was not campus bullying because Gao did not have malicious intent to harm. When Xiao Hao had an incident at school, the school took management responsibility and was disciplined by the education authorities. “Parents want their child to see a doctor, and we also want to sit down and talk with the parents, but we cannot determine how much responsibility the school bears.” The Education Bureau stated: it was not campus bullying; school leaders and homeroom teachers were disciplined; the cause of Xiao Hao’s schizophrenia needs to be considered comprehensively.
From the above events, we can see how children are oppressed and tortured by bullies, school leaders, the education bureau, police, and bourgeois hospitals in today’s capitalist society. First, schools ignore bullying because, in this society, schools are places that exploit students, force them into opportunism, and turn them into obedient slaves to the ruling class. Unlike during the socialist period, where schools aimed to cultivate young people’s worldview and cared about their personal growth, now vice principals pass by and ignore bullying. The so-called “law enforcement” by the police, which only results in “15 days detention but not enforced,” exposes the class nature of the law. The judgments of the capitalist legal system are never for protecting oppressed children but for maintaining capitalist rule. In fact, bullies face no real punishment; they even hypocritically try to erase their actions with a bribe of fifty thousand yuan. Second, from a class analysis perspective, Xiao Hao’s family is working-class, as her parents work outside, and her mother said “economic conditions are poor.” However, it is precisely because they are working-class that her parents are attentive to her abnormal behavior, rather than using her as a blood bag and ignoring her mental state. Despite financial difficulties, her parents still took her to the hospital for treatment and refused the bully’s bribe. Finally, why can the bully Gao be so arrogant? It is because she has the support of school leaders and the capitalist society. The school claims Xiao Hao “doesn’t play with others” and established a campus bullying prevention committee, which on one hand promotes victim-blaming, and on the other hand, cannot fundamentally solve the problem. The bully Gao’s long-term abuse without punishment is not just because she is a “bad seed,” but because the entire capitalist education system supports oppressors.