Unlike physical bullying, cyber bullying involves haranguing someone by spreading mean words, lies, and false rumors through e-mails, text messages, and social media posts. Since it’s largely done behind the screen using the protection of a pseudonym, cyber bullying could be worse and more hurtful than physical bullying.

On Dec 20 The Cyberspace Administration of China announced its new regulation on Ecological Management of Network Information Content to tackle cyber bullying, which will go into effect on March 1, 2020.

According to the new regulation, producers, users, and platforms of network information content services shall use the Internet in a civilized and healthy way, and shall not carry out illegal activities, such as Internet violence, human flesh search, deep forgery, fake web traffic, and account manipulation.

Those who violate these provisions shall be subject to disciplinary measures, such as online behavior restrictions, account closures, and industry bans.

In recent years, there have been several high-profile cases reported in the media of young people committing suicide as a direct result of being victims of cyber bullying. The topic drew further attention when three K-pop stars committed suicide due to constant cyber bullying earlier this year.

In 2018, a female doctor committed suicide in Deyang, Sichuan province due to an online outcry and rumors after she was attacked by two teenage boys in a swimming pool and got in a fight with the boys’ family. Later that year, a blogger identified by Sina Weibo as “writer Chen Lan” accused one girl’s parents of torturing their daughter to death and claimed that her parents created a fraudulent donation page on an online fundraising website, Shuidi Chou. The false accusations caused outrage amongst netizens who started to harass the girl’s parents.

In Oct 2014, some regulations were rolled out to tackle cyber bullying issues, including the network violence infringes on the right of name, reputation, and privacy issues. However, there is some insufficient legal applicability.

“The new regulation further refines some of the broad requirements for Internet content in the cyber security law,” professor Wang Sixin of the Political Science and Law Department of the Communication University of China, told Legal Daily. “The advantage of such an arrangement is, make Internet users have a clear direction. It makes it easier for content providers and consumers to produce, communicate, and distribute content according to these standards.”

Photo: pixabay.com

Recently, China’s Ministry of Education issued the draft rules of a new regulation on the implementation of educational punishment for primary and secondary school (standard primary and secondary schools, secondary vocational schools, and special education schools) teachers. The new regulation is open to feedback from public opinions until December 22 this year.

To help teachers to achieve better results, the new regulation lists punishments allowed to be carried out by teachers based on three categories according to the severity of the student’s offense, including “naming and shaming”, suspending the student from taking field trips or other group activities outside the class schedule, and notifying the parents immediately.

In response to increasing public concern about school bullying incidents, the rules clearly point out that if students bully classmates, abuse teachers, or commit other acts of misconduct, teachers should ask the school to suspend the student from classes or school for up to one week.

READ MORE: China to Amend the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency

Beijing voices on the new regulations

Jolie, a mom of a middle school girl who is now studying in seventh grade of a key public school in Dongcheng District, Beijing, welcomed the move. “But in practice it could be complicated,” she said. “The teacher’s disciplinary measures against students are basically consistent with the content of the new rules, which is appropriate.”

As a mom of a 6-year-old boy, Bing from House of Knowledge strongly agrees with teachers setting boundaries and rules for their children and encourage them to practice them. But if the child is not good at something, corporal punishment is not a good method.

Yi’an, a 6-year-old international school student, said both adults and children should have the same rights. The regulations will not help students behave better. If the adult administers corporal punishment to the child, the child will be more resistant.

From the point of view of a mom who has a special need child, Grace disagrees with the new regulation. “The rules for special needs children, especially children with autism, are very unfriendly.”

She told us that the lack of understanding of rules is a major feature of children with autism. They might show “undisciplined” actions such as not listening to the teachers, violating classroom rules, even having physical conflict with classmates. All those behaviors need the teacher’s guidance, instead of punishments.

READ MORE: Autism Services for Children in China: A Therapist Responds
READ MORE: Beijing Mom Highlights Shortage of Autism Therapists, Despite Offer of Training
READ MORE: The Case for Applied Behavior Analysis: An Interview with Autism Partnership Director, Toby Mountjoy

On the other hand, some teachers said the regulation will at least help students better understand the consequences of misbehaving and that the role of parents is important during the implementation of the regulation.

Meanwhile, in response to the measures taken by the Ministry of Education recently about student discipline, we received some feedback into the issues from Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB) teachers.

The Preschool/Elementary Vice Principal Jenny Sabin told us, when it comes to discipline in instances of inappropriate behavior, they focus on changing the behavior, and not punishment. “So if you made a bad decision on the school bus, you shouldn’t miss lunch. Instead we say ‘This happened on the bus, it is unacceptable, so now you’ll have to sit next to the ayi during the bus ride.’ ” She said. “If a student is too aggressive on the soccer field, then they won’t be able to play on the soccer field for an appropriate period of time.”

Ann Marie Luce, the Preschool/Elementary Principal of CISB, said they want students to feel like they belong to their community. One way that they do that is celebrating cultural diversity in the community.

“We also seek first to understand where such inappropriate behavior is coming from. Are they seeking attention? Are they hungry? Lonely? Are there challenges with language that are making them feel isolated, and leading them to act out? Understanding these issues, and how to help students proactively, helps us prevent behavioral issues later. ” Luce said.

Photo: pexels.com, MOE.com

According to the new regulation, from January 1, 2020, Children under the age of 6 can travel free of charge by city bus and long-distance passenger transport buses, with half price for those aged 6 to 14.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the current pricing policy for urban bus and long-distance passenger transport is based on height, which is considered unfair by the public. The new regulation shows in addition to nine-seat or less than nine passenger bus, eligible children can enjoy a free ride or half-price ticket preferential treatment.

The specific conditions are:

• Each adult passenger can take a child under 6 years old (including 6 years old) or under 1.2 meters tall (including 1.2 meters) on the bus for free, but then the child can’t take a seat alone.
• If there are more than two children to bring, or your child needs a seat alone, then you will get half-price tickets.
• Children who are aged 6 to 14 years old, or 1.2 to 1.5 meters tall will get half-price tickets.

Examples of valid identification documents to prove the age of a child include:

• A resident identity card of the People’s Republic of China
• A temporary resident identity card of the People’s Republic of China
• A residence permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents
• A travel permit for Hong Kong and Macao residents to and from the mainland
• A travel permit for Taiwan residents to and from the mainland
• A passport
• Or A permanent residence identity card for foreigners

Don’t worry too much if you do happens to a valid id document, as your child’s height will be measured instead to make sure they fit the proper standards for traveling as a child. Be sure to get those free tickets early because the number of children on board that are eligible for free tickets will be limited to just 10% of the total number of passengers allowed when the bus is fully loaded.

Photos: gov.cn