Social media contest invites controversy with violence against children theme
Nearly 40,000 people submit captions for online competition, but some say topic is inappropriate
The principle of "spare the rod and spoil the child" remains entrenched in mainland parents, if a cartoon competition on a social network is anything to go by.
The contest attracted more than 1,000 responses in the first two days, many of which were reposted on Weibo, attracting a further 37,000 followers over the ensuing two weeks.
In the original script, the mother says: "Daughter, you've studied for a whole day. Let's go to play in a park," to which the child replies: "Mum, I want to study a bit longer." It ends with a slap from the mother, and the child holding her reddened cheek in silence.
"Violence in parenting is still entrenched in Chinese culture," said Dr Long Di, a family psychotherapist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"Many Chinese parents think they have the right to beat their children to make them behave or even to pressure them to do better in exams."