THIS letter is aimed at all lovers of Peking opera, to point out to them that their patronage of this renowned art form promotes child abuse.
During TVB Pearl's 7.30 news broadcast on Tuesday, January 23, there was an item which showed children being trained as acrobats for Peking opera. One little boy, who looked about seven or eight years old, was practising a handstand on a stool.
Because his position was incorrect - although to the untutored eye it looked perfect - the boy was slapped many times, and viciously so, on his head by the instructor.
Since he was balancing on his hands, the boy was unable to protect himself. Moments later, a violent blow from his tormentor sent the same boy hurtling to the floor. The terrified boy's pitiful cries and tears went unheeded, and he was ordered to resume his handstand.
Children like this are beaten regularly until they satisfy instructors' demands for acrobatic perfection.
Many of the children are sent to Peking opera training schools because they are unwanted by their parents who, very often, cannot afford to look after them. In other words, the children have been abandoned, left to suffer the rigours and terrors of institutions in which the teaching methods rely on battering and terrorising children.