‘Homework escapes heatwave’: Chinese boy’s scheme to ‘lose’ schoolwork in supermarket freezer foiled by helpful store staffer
- Many online commenters who saw the video found it amusing and said they understood why the boy wanted to ditch his homework
- Chinese primary and secondary students spend on average 2.82 hours a day on homework, far more than nearby countries like Japan and Korea
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A little boy who was caught on camera hiding his homework in a fridge at a shopping centre in China has become a source of amusement across mainland social media.
The unnamed boy from Hangzhou city in Zhejiang province, eastern China, was with his mother at a local shopping centre on Tuesday, people.cn reported.
The video of the boy’s trick shows the mother and son browsing in the store before the mother sends the boy to fetch ice cream from the frozen food section.
The boy wearing a blue T-shirt is seen crouched on the floor, his head bowed. In front of him is a tall fridge.
The boy takes a notebook out of his bag, looks around to make sure no one is watching then puts the notebook into the fridge quickly. He then turns around, picks up his bag and leaves.
Soon after the boy and his mother left the store a worker discovered the notebook while retrieving ice cream for another customer.
They identified the mother and son using CCTV footage from the store and their purchase history.
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The worker called the mother who returned to the store where the notebook was handed back to the boy, along with a box of stationery as a gift.
Although the report didn’t state the boy’s motive for “losing” the homework, or if he received any punishment, online users were able to connect the dots and were amused and sympathetic to the boy’s dislike of homework.
One wrote: “Hahaha, the boy must be unhappy about having the homework back.”
Another quipped: “Maybe the boy tried to help his homework escape from the heatwave.”
“How can the boy show thanks to the staffer? His plan was ruined, haha,” another said.
Public data showed that in 2017 Chinese students in primary and secondary school spent an average of 2.82 hours a day on their homework, 3.7 times higher than peers in Japan and 4.8 times higher than in South Korea.
