Military training reconsidered after brutal brawl

Hu Dajun, the principal of Huangcang High School in Longshan, Hunan province never imagined that the school's routine military training session, which takes place every year, could turn into an ugly group fight and eventually light up a nationwide debate over whether military training should be abolished once and for all.

Several military instructors got into an argument with a school teacher who thought his students were being treated unfairly. Young students thought their teacher was being bullied and joined the conflict, which helped turn the whole thing into an all-out fight.

A total of 42 people were injured. The students weren't happy about how the incident was dealt with and took to the street for a protest.

In a country of 1.3 billion people, a skirmish like this would usually be buried under a gigantic flow of information but instead it triggered painful memories for many. Even the Ministry of National Defense has said it will properly regulate training sessions.

For the past 50 years, short sessions of military training have been mandatory for almost all middle school, high school and college students. The practice originated with the Military Service Law in 1955, and intensified as the country was mired in chaos during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), which often saw the military taking over local governments.

But that era is long gone. Young Chinese students are more exposed to Western culture nowadays.

The programs included in the military training sessions as well as the ideologies they represent of collectivism, obedience and selfless devotion, are continuously being challenged.

No rest

Jian Guangliang, a 23-year-old student from the Beijing Institute of Technology, says his impressions about his freshman military training were complicated.

It began with hour-long morning runs, followed by tedious practices that drilled students to stand and walk like a soldier. After that came the juntiquan, or military martial arts. If the weather was nice, his military instructor would take the students out for a hike, circling a nearby hill for a couple of rounds.

"After the hike, everyone was pretty exhausted. All we wanted to do was to have dinner and go straight to bed. But we were far from done. Students were divided into teams and were taught to sing military songs. Whichever team sings the best can enter the cafeteria. The rest had to keep practicing," he told the Global Times.

Making beds is another challenge. Quilts must be folded to look just like rectangular blocks. Not a wrinkle is allowed to be found on bed sheets.

Facilities at the camp were less than modest. Students often had to wait in lines to take a cold shower. No cell phones, electronic devices or any other personal belongings were allowed. Throughout the 15-day training, they were asked to wear military uniforms and shoes.

The shoes were sometimes so uncomfortable that the students, males and females alike, would place sanitary pads into the shoes as insoles.

"Yes, it sounds disgusting but everybody does it. You have to admit that they are soft, absorbent and fit perfectly, just like how they were advertised," Jian said.