Student at Chinese cultural academy dies, and school’s founder blames family’s sins

A traditional cultural academy in China’s northeastern province of Jilin has been investigated after a nine-year-old student died, apparently of leukaemia, and the school’s founder blamed the child’s parents for his disease, telling them “your family has sinned too many times”.

Zhou Zuorui died in hospital on December 11 after feeling ill for a week while attending the Yukun School, a private boarding academy in Yitong county that specialises in teaching traditional Chinese culture, Chongqing Morning Post reported.

Such academies are growing popular, with a revival of the study of classic Chinese culture, known as guoxue or national learning, under way. These private schools have drawn criticism over their curriculums, which often forgo courses set by the education ministry, such as mathematics or the sciences, and promote traditional views such as the need for women to stay at home and serve their husbands. Many of them are not certified to issue diplomas.

When Zhou first felt discomfort, the school nurse treated him using traditional Chinese techniques such as fire cupping and herbal medicine. After lumps were discovered in Zhou’s abdomen, the school notified his parents on December 7 to take him to the hospital for treatment.

Zhou’s parents – his father, Zhou Jiankui, and mother, Xiang Xiaoyan – who live in Chongqing, about 2,600km (1,600 miles) from the school in Yitong, reached the school the next day.

Three days before his death, Zhou’s white blood cell count was at 550.12, an abnormal level. Medical imaging showed enlarged liver and spleen, the report said. The symptoms suggested he had leukaemia, but a lumbar puncture, which would confirm the illness, was not carried out.