QINGDAO IN EAST CHINA'S SHANDONG PROVINCE has recently issued a regulation on local primary schools and middle schools urging them to apply "moderate disciplinary punishments" to students who misbehave. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Wednesday:

Qingdao's new regulation allowing teachers to give misbehaving students physical punishments is said to be the first of its kind among all Chinese cities.

That many question whether teachers should be given the right to physically punish "bad" students is because they see such punishments as physical abuse, which they believe does not work as students should be encouraged to behave well in the classroom.