Special correspondent Feng Zhizhuang reports from Funan, Anhui Province with text and photos.
After two days of negotiation, the school gave each child 4000 yuan for medical expenses. "When we called again, they said not to纠缠 over responsibility because the children are fine after all."
Zhouzhou didn't regain consciousness until lunchtime the next day. Afterwards, Teacher Hou found a half-empty bottle of dichlorvos in Zhouzhou's schoolbag. Her mother, afraid to ask about the situation, secretly threw it away in the toilet.
He ran a red light on his way to the People's Hospital of Funan County and met an incoming 120 ambulance head-on.
"I watched them drink," Yingying said afterwards. Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou drank the medicine around 5 p.m. School had already ended, and there were only four of them left in the classroom.
After the new semester began, Zhouzhou joined the tutoring class run by Teacher Jiang outside of school. With the mid-term exams approaching, the teacher began collecting tutoring fees.
The two girls who were rescued from the brink of death still have a long road ahead.
At the time of the attempted suicides, there were 98 students in Grade 6, Class 6. Now, the two girls have transferred schools.
The location of the tutoring class (circled area) appeared shabby.
During class, they were urged to pay the tutoring fees.
"Our principle is to suspend classes first before things are clarified," said Zhu Liang, a member of the leadership team and director of the office of the Funan County Education Bureau.
After the incident, this female teacher in her forties was suspended from teaching and investigated.
"The child used to have a good character, but in the past two years, she has become irritable and gets into fights over trivial matters," said her father, who thought his child had a talent for drawing—"able to draw anything that comes to mind."
"Why can't I plead with them? What exactly have I done wrong?" Teacher Jiang sounded innocent and helpless on the phone. After the incident, Teacher Jiang and her husband, who was still injured and using crutches, went to the hospital to visit Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou but were "asked" to leave by the children's families. She felt upset.
Mr. Zhou rode a faded motorcycle bought nine years ago, bumping along the road from his home in Liulou Village in Lucheng Town to the hospital.
Xiaomeng's father Wang Feng was 36 years old and contracted municipal engineering projects in Linquan. On October 24th, there was nothing going on at the construction site, so Wang Feng was enjoying a quiet afternoon at home.
That day was self-study time. Zhouzhou was reading an extracurricular book, which was discovered by Teacher Jiang. When she asked Zhouzhou to hand over the book and was refused, she took it directly and pointed at her head saying, "With such poor grades, you're still reading extracurricular books." That day, Zhouzhou was ridiculed by many classmates.
She hadn't mentioned the tutoring to her husband. Originally somewhat afraid of her father, Zhouzhou didn't know how to ask him for the tutoring fees.
On November 12th, the reporter met the parents of two male students.
"This is driving me to despair," she said, suffering from severe insomnia, neurotic insomnia. Previously, after her husband fell from the roof and broke both legs, she alone supported the family.
All the leaves had fallen, a common day before the harsh winter arrived in northern China. A student suicide pact disrupted the tranquility of Funan, a small county in northern Anhui.
To maintain a good relationship with the teacher, Mr. Zhou said many parents chose tutoring to "strengthen communication" with the teacher.
Teacher Hou started teaching Class 6, Grade 6 in the second semester of fifth grade and became the homeroom teacher. Teacher Jiang began teaching math to this class in third grade.
Mr. Zhu said the teacher neglected them and rarely checked their homework.
On November 12th, the reporter eventually contacted Teacher Jiang involved in the incident. She declined the request for an in-person interview but agreed to chat over the phone.
Is not participating in tutoring preventing students from attending school?
"Before this, I didn't want to join (the tutoring), but when registering for the new semester, Teacher Jiang repeatedly refused to register my child because her summer homework wasn't completed, so I had to enroll her in the tutoring class," said Zhouzhou's mother. Participating in tutoring was also to hope the teacher would be kinder to her child and ease the relationship.
Hou teacher confirmed that Xiaomeng, who used to talk a lot, often remained silent during class for a period of time, spacing out and only burying herself in reading and doing homework.
"This child's condition is serious." The doctor came out looking for Zhouzhou's relatives to sign on the emergency treatment form.
"For your class, it's a complete waste of time," Xiaomeng said, adding that this was Teacher Jiang's catchphrase. In Xiaomeng's view, the teacher was giving up on their underperforming class. Among the nine sixth-grade classes in the whole school, Class 6 had generally poor academic performance, and the teacher didn't like them.
Xiaomeng always took her math homework very seriously, fearing being scolded by Teacher Jiang and punished to stand outside.
"She doesn't care about us anymore since Teacher Zhao left," Xiaomeng said.
The dramatic change behind this secret isn't hard to explain: grades are the ultimate truth.
Xiaomeng said every time she did her math homework carefully because she was worried about being named and scolded by Teacher Jiang or even punished to stand outside.
"If I die, it's all the math teacher's fault. Please take her away, police officer."
Seeing the two classmates drink the poison, they quickly felt unwell. Yingying didn't dare to drink but instead ran to find the teacher.
"There must be a signature on the rescue treatment form." The doctor looked for Zhouzhou's relatives.
"Each child pays 600 yuan per semester, equivalent to dozens of yuan per class," Mr. Zhou said. Last semester, the teacher approached his daughter about joining the tutoring class, but she didn't participate.
She said, "There are a few students who are difficult to manage, disobedient, making small actions in class, not studying themselves but affecting other children. Without discipline, normal order cannot be maintained," sometimes she would criticize these children, but the purpose was to let them study well without any ill will.
Xiaomeng thought Teacher Zhao liked everyone. After Teacher Zhao left, she felt "no one likes me anymore."
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Because of this, he gained much respect in the village and was seen as a capable person.
"After the incident, Xiaomeng transferred to a private school in Fuyang, and Zhouzhou returned to her hometown's Liu Lou Village Primary School."
According to the descriptions of the two children, the direct trigger for their taking the poison was Teacher Jiang's urging for tutoring fees. The two close friends had conceived the idea of committing suicide a week earlier but didn't act due to fear.
Mr. Zhou said his daughter's aversion to Teacher Jiang reached a "water and fire incompatible" level. On the third day after the incident, when Teacher Jiang visited his daughter in the hospital, his daughter kept covering her head, trembling uncontrollably, and shouting loudly for her to leave.
"My child doesn't like you; don't come back," Mr. Zhou gently told Teacher Jiang as he placed the fruits she brought outside the door, restoring his daughter's normalcy.
For the compensation claims made by the two parents, he firmly rejected: "Taking poison is the child's own matter, and the family is also responsible. It can't all be blamed on the school."
Xiaomeng's father Wang Feng cherished the memory of Teacher Zhao, sometimes even talking about writing letters to the teacher. Xiaomeng had deep feelings for Teacher Zhao.
Wang Feng and Mr. Zhou entrusted a lawyer and once again approached Principal Li of Funan No. 2 Primary School, hoping to resolve issues like the children's medical expenses. Principal Li claimed he was attending a meeting elsewhere and asked them to speak with Vice Principal Wang Chuan Ying, then turned off his phone.
"Top students" need to avoid exams
Wang Feng calmed down. Teacher Hou seemed aggrieved, repeatedly explaining "this has nothing to do with me." At the time of the incident, she was tidying up items in her office preparing to leave work when a student from the class, Yingying, informed her that Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou had taken pesticide.
After the incident, Xiaomeng transferred to a private school in Fuyang, and Zhouzhou returned to read at the primary school in her hometown, Liu Lou Village.
Based on the accounts of the two children, the immediate trigger for their taking poison was Ms. Jiang's demand for tutoring fees. The two close friends had harbored suicidal thoughts for a week, but refrained from acting due to fear.
Zhouzhou took out a 100 ml bottle of "dichlorvos" from her schoolbag and opened the cap. Xiaomeng poured the medicine into the cap and drank it, while Zhouzhou drank 2-3 caps and then offered it to Yingying.
Zhouzhou said, "If I die, it's all the math teacher's fault. Please take her away, Officer." Xiaomeng wrote, "I'm so tired, they don't understand me, I don't want to live anymore."
Seeing the two classmates drink, they quickly felt unwell. Yingying didn't dare to drink but instead ran to find the teacher.
Why did they attempt suicide? Why did they leave such a message? Why did the teacher-student conflict escalate to this extent?
Two previously high-performing students, after their grades dropped, more strongly felt "out of favor." Their parents sensed their daughters' hostility towards the math teacher.
Some parents said that if it weren't for Ms. Zhang, a teacher at Funan No. 2 Primary School, no one else could have managed it.
Zhouzhou's father, Mr. Zhou, was originally a mason but later became a vegetable farmer.
Due to strained relations with the teacher, conflicts escalated repeatedly, causing Zhouzhou's grades to drop further. "My daughter used to score 80+ in math, but at the end of fifth grade, she only scored 48," said Mr. Zhou.
Zhouzhou said, "Teacher Hou doesn't care much, but Math Teacher Jiang does, and she's very dominant." Jiang particularly disliked the few students whose grades had dropped.
Mr. Zhou said that at the start of this semester, when registering at school, Teacher Jiang said Zhouzhou hadn't finished her summer homework and refused to register her, rejecting her three times consecutively. "On the fourth attempt, Zhouzhou said she would attend tutoring, and only then did Teacher Jiang allow her registration."
At 10 o'clock on the morning of November 13th, during Chinese class, Teacher Hou was reading a passage and explaining new idioms. Two or three boys sitting in the last row were whispering and occasionally laughing and playing around. Zhu Zhu sat beside the two boys taking notes.
Zhouzhou and Xiaomeng said they drank the poison because they felt mentally oppressed, their grades had dropped and they were mocked by the teacher, "We didn't want to live anymore."
Two previously excellent students, after their grades dropped, more strongly felt "out of favor." Their parents noticed their daughters' hostility towards the math teacher.
In the water flushing, Xiaomeng began vomiting profusely. On another bed, Zhouzhou, who had also undergone gastric lavage, spat out white foam.
The reporter found a tutoring advertisement at the civilian house where Zhouzhou attended tutoring classes. The reporter called the number listed under Teacher Zhang. The person answered, saying that after the incident at No. 2 Primary School, the tutoring classes stopped. If needed, one could go to her house, and she promised to inform the child's teacher to be kinder to the child.
This year's numerous incidents left Teacher Jiang looking haggard. She said her heart condition relapsed, and she often felt unwell. Regarding the children targeting her, she said she "couldn't understand."
Regarding the learning pressure Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou mentioned, Teacher Jiang explained that sixth graders would soon enter junior high school, so having some homework was normal. However, she never forced students to finish all assignments or put undue pressure on them.
Vice Principal Wang Chuan Ying of Funan No. 2 Primary School denied not allowing students to take exams, but multiple parents confirmed the occurrence.
Vice Principal Wang Chuan Ying of Funan No. 2 Primary School denied teachers running tutoring classes, "If there were any, it would only be ideas concocted by individual parents."
"To get my child a better seat, I gave cigarettes and alcohol to the teacher and topped up their phone credit," said Wang Feng. He stopped doing so after his child entered fifth grade because teachers changed frequently, and it wasn't worthwhile.
This year's numerous changes left Teacher Jiang looking haggard. She said her heart condition relapsed, and she often felt unwell. Regarding the children targeting her, she said she "couldn't understand."
Regarding the learning pressure Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou mentioned, Teacher Jiang explained that sixth graders would soon enter junior high school, so having some homework was normal. However, she never forced students to finish all assignments or put undue pressure on them.
Vice Principal Wang Chuan Ying of Funan No. 2 Primary School denied not allowing students to take exams, but multiple parents confirmed the occurrence.
Vice Principal Wang Chuan Ying of Funan No. 2 Primary School denied teachers running tutoring classes, "If there were any, it would only be ideas concocted by individual parents."
"Children often don't do their homework, saying they don't know how to do it, leaving parents completely powerless," said one parent engaged in house decoration. The child's original household registration was not in the city, so they had to rely on connections and gifts, paying more than 6000 yuan in borrowing fees to enroll in this relatively good school in the city, but the child's grades worsened starting from fourth grade, leading to disinterest in studying.
Mr. Zhou saw Mr. Wang arguing with Teacher Hou.
Many rural parents chose this school just like him, resulting in nearly 3000 students from six grades squeezed into two teaching buildings.
"Rural people working away often return with money and hope their children can attend good schools," said Zhu Liang, a member of the leadership team and director of the office of the Funan County Education Bureau. Three or four years ago, there was a trend in Funan County for rural children to attend school in the city. These children, in the eyes of city teachers, had uneven academic performances and were hard to manage.
The door opened, and a female nurse shouted outside, "The patient is being treated, argue somewhere else!"
She said, "Playing with those mischievous boys makes it impossible for me to concentrate on my studies. Originally seated at the back, after Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou stopped coming to class, I sat next to several boys."
Zhouzhou said, "She (Teacher Jiang) doesn't care about me and keeps putting me at the back. Once, Teacher Hou moved me to the front, but she quickly moved me back." Zhouzhou felt the teacher hurt her self-esteem.
"Actually, Xiaomeng didn't write a single word, just scribbled on her homework book," said Zhouzhou.
That evening at 10 PM, after being unconscious for four and a half hours, Xiaomeng woke up; Zhouzhou, having consumed more poison, only reacted at midnight but remained delirious.
At 5 PM, Xiaomeng's Chinese teacher, Teacher Hou, called urgently: "Your child drank poison!"
At this moment, it was just over ten minutes since the two children had ingested the highly toxic pesticide "dichlorvos".
Teacher Hou rushed to the classroom and, on the playground, saw Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou being helped out by other teachers and students. Xiaomeng was holding her stomach, Zhouzhou lying on the ground spitting out white foam and fainting.
"The toxicity of the drug is strong; the child's pupils are dilated, and her heartbeat is irregular," said Mr. Zhou on November 12th.
With wide-open eyes, the girl was speaking nonsense.
"Move the teacher! There's someone by the bed; she's trying to grab me." "I need to do my homework; otherwise, I'll be driven out again," the mother recounted how her daughter spoke nonsense with wide-open eyes, quite frightening.
Zhouzhou and Xiaomeng said they left the note so they wouldn't die unjustly, letting their families know it was the teacher who "killed" them, asking the math teacher to take responsibility and seeking justice for their parents.
"Take the teacher away! Someone is by the bed, she's trying to grab me." "I need to do my homework; otherwise, I'll be driven out again." The mother recounted how her daughter spoke nonsense with wide-open eyes, quite frightening.
"Child goes to class, obviously performing better than rural children, and the teacher even considered making her class monitor," said Mr. Zhou, noting his daughter was well-liked by teachers at the new school.
Teacher Hou hurriedly ran to the classroom. On the playground, she saw Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou being helped out by other teachers and students. Xiaomeng was holding her stomach, Zhouzhou lying on the ground spitting out white foam and fainting.
"I think I have no responsibility for this incident (child poisoning). I've never physically punished students or given them pressure," but she admitted lacking insight into the problems.
She said her stress was also significant, as annual excellence evaluations were linked to teaching performance, "I've worked hard, but this class still performs poorly, and everything I've done is for the children."
Wang Feng was somewhat angry: "Does it have to be a tragedy before it's considered a major issue?" The other party no longer responded.
At 10 AM on November 13th, during Chinese class, Teacher Hou was reading a passage and explaining new idioms. Two or three boys sitting in the last row were whispering and occasionally laughing and playing around. Zhu Zhu sat beside the two boys taking notes.
On October 24th, during math class, Teacher Jiang publicly asked Zhouzhou in front of the entire class when she would pay the 600 yuan tutoring fee. "The teacher's words and looks made me feel embarrassed," said Zhouzhou.
"The teacher says the tutoring is voluntary," said Zhouzhou, but while saying it was voluntary, the teacher privately approached some students, persuading them to attend tutoring.
He fumbled frantically for the keys to the business car, calling out to his wife.
"Can you hurry up? We're dying!" He snapped at his wife for the first time. Seeing his ashen face, she didn't even bother to close the store door before getting in the car with him.
The car came from the direction of the elementary school where the child studied. He seemed to understand something and turned around to follow the ambulance speeding away.
"Child drank poison!" Zhouzhou's father, Mr. Zhou, received a call from his wife, who was sobbing and struggling to breathe.
Four girls' classroom, less than 40 square meters, stuffed with 98 people, with only enough space between seats for one body. Students inside need to move aside for those outside.
The door to the emergency room slammed shut.
The area where tutoring takes place is filled with classmates, with as many as 30 people at its peak.
Previously, Teacher Jiang admitted in interviews with local media that she indeed held tutoring classes outside of school, but these classes were conducted at the request of students' parents, offering free services. Participation in tutoring was entirely voluntary, and she did not arrange seating based on participation in tutoring, nor did she treat students differently.
This 12-year-old, 1.6-meter-tall pretty girl is introverted. In Teacher Hou's eyes, "the child is quiet and obedient, but her recent academic performance has declined."
Teachers and students at odds, why? Why?
"Many rural people work away, earning money and hoping their children can attend good schools," said Zhu Liang, a member of the leadership team and director of the office of the Funan County Education Bureau. Three or four years ago, there was a trend in Funan County for rural children to attend school in the city. These children, in the eyes of city teachers, had uneven academic performances and were hard to manage.
On October 24th, after school, Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou of Grade 6, Class 6 at Funan No. 2 Primary School, swallowed the highly toxic pesticide "dichlorvos" in front of their classmates and friends Yingying and Zhu Zhu in the classroom.
What unpleasantness occurred between the two 12 and 11-year-old children and the teacher that led them to express dissatisfaction with the teacher through attempted suicide?
Most intolerable to them was that their seats were consistently placed far back, "unable to even see the words on the blackboard clearly."
"Teacher gives lessons voluntarily, but actually pressures some students privately, convincing them to attend tutoring," said Zhouzhou.
That night at 10 PM, after being unconscious for four and a half hours, the lighter case, Xiaomeng, woke up; Zhouzhou, having consumed more poison, only showed signs of life at midnight but remained delirious.
At 5 PM, Xiaomeng's Chinese teacher, Teacher Hou, called urgently: "Your child drank poison!"
Four or five minutes later, the 120 ambulance stopped at the emergency department of the hospital, and four or five medical staff rushed out carrying Xiaomeng and Zhouzhou.
Fortunately, the two children were saved after emergency treatment at the hospital.
Difficult-to-produce investigation report
For the claim about being urged to pay for tutoring, Teacher Jiang refused to comment and hung up the phone.
On November 13th, Zhu Liang said that after the incident, the education bureau prioritized rescuing the children and launched an investigation into the involved teacher. To ensure fairness, a team composed of the county disciplinary inspection office and the education bureau was formed to investigate whether the teacher was conducting paid tutoring, "Tutoring exists, but whether the teacher charges is still under investigation, and there will be a result."
"Child drank poison