Students participate in an anti-bullying session at a primary school in Hefei, Anhui province. [Photo by HAN SUYUAN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE]

Legal limbo

Although a number of laws and regulations protect adolescents in China, none of them specifically targets bullying, which researchers define as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-age children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance and behavior that is, or has the potential to be, repeated over time.

Too little attention has been paid to bullying in schools, according to Sun Hongyan, a senior researcher at the China Youth and Children Research Center.

Before May, when the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a document ordering a nationwide campaign to target the problem, there was no large-scale survey of the situation, Sun said, adding that only low-level research has been conducted into the topic. "Some sampled 200 students, others covered just one school," she said.

The lack of research doesn't mean the situation isn't serious.

On Oct 16, the Ministry of Education reported that 68 confirmed cases of school bullying had been reported between May and August, and in recent years, video clips uploaded to the internet showing teenagers bullying classmates have attracted national headlines.

Sun believes that many cases go unreported. "What has been seen on the internet and in news reports is just the tip of the iceberg," she said. Having conducted her own surveys, she said many children refuse to report bullying: "Some teachers tend to assume that it takes two to make a quarrel, so the victim also gets criticized. The worst teachers tell the victim: 'You are not good, either'."

Gao Xia, a middle school teacher from Jiangsu province, believes that many cases are covered up because bullying is not a topic that school principals like to talk about outside of campus.

"Even if the school management hears about on-campus bullying, they tend to remain silent and not discuss it outside of school, because the revelations would be extremely damaging to the schools and the principals' reputations," she said.

Left-behind children

Research has found that bullying is especially serious among "left-behind" children, who live in isolated rural areas and whose parents have moved away to work in cities.

A survey of rural students in two (unnamed) provinces, conducted in October last year by Growing Home, an educational NGO, showed that 36.3 percent of the 6,120 left-behind children who responded claimed they had been bullied in school, and 48.6 percent said they had seen others being bullied.

Sun has conducted research into bullying among left-behind children. Her team asked nearly 6,000 children to fill out questionnaires. "By comparing the answers of those who are left-behind and those who are not, we found that children belonging to the former group have many issues. Boys tend to be aggressive, like to breach discipline deliberately and fight with others. Girls tend to be depressed and self-contemptuous－unhealthy emotions that need to be let out," she said.

Many educators believe that left-behind status, combined with most students being the only child in their family, contributes to the problem.

Liu Hong, from Shenyang, Liaoning province, who has taught for 20 years, said: "Being the only child in their family, youngsters tend to look down on others. In many cases, they push someone out simply because they think that person is unpleasant to the eye."

Researchers have discovered that adolescents who are bullied are more likely to have anxiety and depression, and grow up considering self harm. "Some people who were bullied in school have low-esteem for their entire lives and cannot properly handle relations at work and in marriage. Others become bullies themselves," Sun said.