A student in China who feels suffocated by the home surveillance cameras her parents have set up to monitor her studying has reignited online discussions about the huge pressure mainland children face to excel academically.
As schools in China begin the winter holiday, some parents say they are considering placing cameras in the rooms of their children to ensure they work hard while at home alone.
An unidentified mother told the mainland media outlet Hongxing News that she wanted to install a camera in her daughter’s room, after seeing a work colleague give real-time instructions to her child, who was studying at home.
However, her fourth-grade primary school daughter firmly rejected the idea and hid the camera she planned to install.
Another mother said her son secretly removed the lens of a surveillance camera in his room in protest.
A student said in an online post that the camera watched her constantly, making her feel “suffocated”.
A primary school teacher from eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Jiang Qiaohong, said a third-year student once wrote in his essay that his parents had installed cameras at home to watch him, and gave him studying orders via the cameras’ speakers.
“I am my dad and mum’s marionette,” Jiang recalled the boy writing.
The home surveillance camera has become the new battleground for demanding Chinese parents and children who expect independence, freedom and trust.
Jiang asked the boy’s parents to take down the camera in his room to protect his privacy and suggested they communicate to their child on an equal footing.
“Parents should learn how to let it go,” said Jiang.
A lawyer at Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, Zhao Lihua, said China’s Civil Code states that minors aged eight or above have a limited capacity for civil conduct, and it is illegal for parents to surveil them without consent.
Another primary school teacher, Wang Meihua, said the camera is a reflection of parental anxiety over academic performance.
Such aggressive pressure on children is a phenomenon known as Jiwa, or “chicken blood parenting”.
In January, a mother in southwestern China’s Sichuan province began live-streaming her nine-year-old son’s daily study sessions on Douyin, attracting hundreds of people to watch the boy doing his homework.
She said the effect was “surprising”, as her child stopped being distracted, and finished his homework two to three times faster than usual.