More reforms needed to put children's safety first

Meanwhile, experts point out that most Chinese parents are devoted to producing a "good" child, a characteristic developed largely through obedience. When children leave home for school, they are taught to do everything the teacher asks them to do.

According to the investigation, two accused kindergartens in Xi'an began to administer antiviral drugs to children in 2008. Li Min questioned why no pupil exposed this fact to their parents over the past five or so years. "Kids at this age are able to express themselves clearly," she pointed out.

In many cases of child sexual abuse, a similar situation has applied. The victims chose not to speak out.

"I do not want a 'good' kid at the price of depriving her of the ability to question and challenge authority to protect herself," said Li, who admitted that society should take responsibility to protect kids, but stressed that families should also think about their evaluation criteria for their offspring.

Chinese authorities issued a notice on Tuesday requiring education and health departments from across the country to carry out inspections of kindergartens and primary and middle schools to see whether any are forcing students to take medicine without permission.

"We expect more reforms to put children's safety first. Everyone paid attention to certain scandals when they were exposed. But afterward our actions should also speak louder than words," Xiong Bingqi said.

Hu Tao from Beijing, Weng Ye from Guangxi and Shi Zhiyong from Shaanxi contributed to the reporting.