Recently in Shangahi’s Minhang district, a primary school student allegedly faced scolding from their mother for not scoring 100 points in the final exam. Subsequently, the student jumped from a building over a dozen stories high. Unable to bear the shock, both the mother and the father also jumped and tragically lost their lives.
A circulated video on the internet shows the police at the scene setting up cordons, while the bodies of the mother and daughter are covered with blue plastic sheeting. The father, wearing shorts and a brown shirt, was found lying beside the mother’s body.
According to a netizen’s post, the incident occurred on January 14th in Minhang district, Shanghai. The girl who jumped off the building was in fifth grade, and her mother was displeased when she did not score 100 points in her exams. The mother’s intense verbal scolding pushed the girl to the edge, leading her to jump off the building. In a moment of emotional turmoil, the mother followed suit, unable to control her feelings. The father, witnessing everything, also despondently jumped off the building.
Residents in the neighborhood who witnessed the event were deeply shocked. One resident expressed on social media, “The 5th-grade girl next door jumped off the building. The day after the exam results came out, they landed right below my window. I watched the police and firefighters handling the situation until the funeral parlor’s vehicles took them away. I cried at the window for a long time… I also struggle every day with tutoring assignments. Why does this happen…”
The incident sparked discussions online. Some netizens mentioned that this tragedy was a result of distorted education views. One comment read, “In the Communist China, if you don’t do well in exams, you can’t enter a good university and become a white-collar worker. You might end up delivering takeout and being looked down upon as a lesser person.”
Others argued, “Even if you score 100 points, the Communist Party won’t offer you a job. Wake up! Ignorant parents harm not only their children but also themselves. This is not the first nor the last tragedy.”
There were also opinions suggesting that the child’s grades were merely a trigger, and the actual underlying reason could be financial issues. One perspective raised was, “Think about it, if parents have 50 million in cash and real estate without any debt, would they still demand their child to score 100 points? As long as the child understands basic math, can collect rent, interest, and dividends, without being deceived to go to Myanmar, Northern Thailand, or Yunnan, they’d have more than enough for a lifetime.”