Half naked students to protest long speech

From Xin Kuai News And Zao Bao news

Picture from microblog @周述恒

Half naked, heads covered with short sleeves, a group of students from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts lied on the ground before a school leader to protest his long speech.

This scene happened in the opening ceremony of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Graduation Exhibition. Since yesterday afternoon, a post about “students half naked to protest long speeches of school leader” was spreading widely on microblog.

In the video shot by people on the scene, the students are prepared. One of the leaders was addressing, and suddenly 11 students came out of nowhere, covered their faces with short sleeves, folded their hands to shot at the speaker and then lied on the ground.

Facing the unexpected messes, the crowd were applauding and shouting aloud. But the speaker on the stage was quite calm and continued his speech after politely asking them to stand up. A person nearby reminded the lying students to stand up and after that, they quickly walked away.

This article is posted on microblog @周述恒 at 11:26 AM yesterday. According to the photos, a man was speaking with smile in front of a board saying graduation exhibition while a row of students was lying on the ground with their legs towards him. Many people were taking photos.

The person who posted this said that the students were performing an astonishing behavior art. Netizen @河马小said:“We are against all kinds of formalism. The leaders are so boring, and why is that?” Some netizens also figured this as a part of the graduation exhibition.

The Publicity Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts confirmed the news, but they disagreed with the saying of protest: “This is not a protest. The students in art academy are full of ideas and they can deliver their thoughts freely.”

From May to July is the season when many university students are going to graduate. Recent years, Chinese university students are fond of using unique ways to display their youth, creativity and affection to their mother schools. And many universities show a great tolerance to this kind of deed, saying that these are students’ “personal behavior”.

Apart from this, taking graduation photos is becoming one of the biggest show time for students. They highlight on design and creativity such as girls barelegged or boys half naked rather than the stereotype of standing still.

This year, especially after the news of “five-stripe badge” boy, the “six – stripe badge” becomes the popular prop in graduation photos. The famous girls from South China Normal University showed their sexy legs and “six –stripe badge” in their graduation photos.

Graduation photo of girls from South China Normal University

The well-known “five-stripe badge” boy was a 12-year-old youth named Huang Yibo. He became famous not only because he started watching “Xinwen Lianbo” when he was 2-years-old and began reading “People’s Daily” since he was 7-years-old, but also the “five-stripe badge” on his arm.

Same story and Netizens’ comments from Sina translated by Olivia Lee

As a Chinese student, the most dreadful thing about every ceremony in school is the speech given by the school principles. In my primary school, it was quite usual that every Monday morning, all students stood in the playground in the summer heat, not allowed to move, for two straight hours just to hear a regular speech given by the principle. The content of the speech doesn’t necessarily last for 2 hours if said at a normal speaking speed. Yet for some reason, Chinese leaders like to give the speech with an unbelievably slow speed. It’s like between every two words, they have to pause for a while. They would glance around then pick up the next word. This applies to almost every leader in every organization and department. The reason of doing so I still couldn’t figure out. Lately, a group of graduates protested against the leader’s lengthy speech in a controversial way.

May 25^th is the day of Guangzhou Fine Arts Institute’s graduate’s works exhibition. As usually, school leader was giving speech on the opening ceremony. While all of a sudden, a group of students came forward and lined up in a row. While everybody including the speaker was still in shock, they lay down on the ground, pulled up their T-shirts over their head, exposing their chest, protesting that the speaker’s slow and lengthy speech.

The school later admitted the incident and said, "This cannot be called a protest. Students in art school are very creative. They have many ideas and they can express their ideas freely."

While some are amazed at the students’ courage and creativity, praising them of doing an excellent performance art; some criticized them as being childish and lacking the quality of being an educated student. Part of the netizens’ comments are translated below:

2011-05-27 09:05:46 新浪河北邯郸网友浪子
"如果学生敢这么做，也没有受到处理，我相信，这个学校的领导是非常开明的，人无完人，每个人都会有不被一些喜欢的一面，而能坦然接受反对自已的声音和意见，就是一所开明的 大学。赞这个学校的校长"

"If students have the courage to do it and without being punished, I believe the school leaders are quite open and embracing. There’s no perfect human being. Everybody has something that others dislike. If one university is ready to accept every opposing opinion, it’s an open university. The principle of this school deserves applause!"

2011-05-27 08:02:32 新浪四川成都手机用户
"如果我在学校这么做，班主任都会下岗的…"

If I do the same thing in my school, even my class adviser will be fired…

2011-05-27 08:00:40 新浪北京网友a12345678
"不正常的行为就是艺术？"

"Just because the behavior is abnormal, it is ‘performance art’ ?"

2011-05-27 07:50:11 新浪福建厦门网友丑陋的金子
"表扬这些学生！勇敢抗议，敢于向领导说不！！！"

"Good for these students. They have the guts to protest, to say no to school leaders!"

2011-05-27 07:34:17 新浪广东东莞手机用户
"以前读书时开学休学典礼上校长一开口就是两个小时."

When I was in school, in every first-day of school and honors day, the principle would give a lengthy2-hour speech…"

2011-05-26 20:11:31 新浪河北石家庄手机用户
看看吧，这就是教育出来的孩子们

"See, this is the so-called educated youth?"

2011-05-26 16:54:56 新浪广东深圳小企鹅吹泡泡2
反抗个球 从社会角度讲完全属于不尊重他人。太叛逆了。完全是小孩子做法

"Protest? They’re just disrespecting others. So rebellious! This is totally childish."

2011-05-26 17:53:34 新浪福建福州网友rym8790
我们上大学的时候，知道政治处的那个老师，每次开会都会补充两句，结果都要半个小时，后来开会，他一补充我们就拼命鼓掌，搞的他说不下去，最后成了一个笑话。

"In my university, a professor in political department always want to"add a few words" in every meeting. But "a few words" always turned out to be a half-hour’s speech. Therefore, we kept applauding every time he wanted to "add a few words" to stop him from talking. Thus his speech became a joke to us."