Chinese child star attempted suicide after being repeatedly bullied by jealous classmates as teachers turned blind eye, claims mother

The mother of a child star in China who attempted suicide last year has accused students at her daughter’s school of bullying and several teachers of tolerating the behaviour.

Ninth-grade student Shao Yibu, 15, jumped from the sixth floor window of a Shanghai building in November last year after experiencing long-term bullying at the Xincheng School in the Minhang District of the city.

She was held for a short time by cable lines before eventually falling and hitting the ground. She received serious injuries including damage to her pancreas, nose and several fractured bones. She was discharged from hospital in February after three months of treatment, news site Red Star News reported.

Yibu starred in the 2019 drama film Looking Up, starring mainland China actor Deng Chao, and played a supporting role in the 2019 television series Zhu Meng Qing Yuan, starring mainland Chinese actress Yang Mi.

Earlier this month, Yibu’s mother, You Yongmei, publicly accused 13 classmates of her daughter of bullying and the school’s principal, vice-principal and three teachers of tolerating the behaviour and demanded they be punished, in a Weibo post.

Yibu told her mother her classmates defamed her and isolated her out of jealousy of her child star status and for being a top student.

You said she only realised her daughter was being bullied in May last year when the girl’s form teacher, Lu Jing, allegedly called and told her: “Shao Yibu has been isolated by the whole class. She is arrogant at school, no one wants to stand with her and no one wants to interact with her.”