‘Control freak’: Chinese mother imposes draconian ‘cash-for-study’ regime on son for university allowance, splitting online opinion
- Disciplinarian mum puts together harsh set of rules which son must adhere to get university allowance
- Regime includes mobile phone strictures, photographic proof of library visits and bonus payment if he finds a girlfriend
The controlling mother of a university student in China who has devised an intricate – and draconian – study and reward system by which her son gets his allowance has split opinion on mainland social media.
The student, who is known by the alias Xunguang on the short video platform Douyin, studies at the North University of China in Taiyuan in the northern province of Shanxi.
As the new semester got underway at the beginning of this month, his mother told him she would grant him a living allowance based on a new system, according to a report by the video outlet Star News.
She told him he will get 900 yuan (US$123) on day one of each month.
An extra 10 yuan per day will be added if he goes to the library to study in the morning, at noon and in the evening, amounting to 300 yuan a month.
Also, to bolster his enthusiasm for study, the mother set an additional full-attendance bonus of 300 yuan if he earns the 10 yuan library award every day of the month. She has also offered an additional 500 yuan per month if the son finds a girlfriend.
“I don’t want the bother of pushing you to find a girlfriend in the future, so I hope you can find a girlfriend now,” she said, according to a screenshot of their online chat.
But the son quickly found out the payment system would be no cake walk.
On the first day of its operation, his mother pointed out three problems after the son sent her a video clip of himself at the library, the report said.
“First, you arrived at the library too late. I will subtract five yuan. Second, you only filmed the entrance of the library which does not prove you went inside, and third, you should hold a white paper with the characters I tell you written on it on any given day to further prove everything is in order,” she told him.
The next day, the regime got even more draconian when his mother demanded he must keep the location services function activated on his mobile phone while he is studying.
“If you turn off the location sharing function, I will think you are playing with your mobile phone and not studying,” his mother said.
However, there was a smidgen of leniency.
“I know that sometimes you need to check messages from the school or your classmates, so I will allow you to quit the location sharing function three times, but for no longer than two minutes each time.
“If you violate my rules by quitting the function too many times or leaving it off for too long, I will deduct five yuan,” his mother said, adding: “Keep self-disciplined. Go for it, kid!”
The study-reward rules prompted a wave of hilarious comments online as videos of the mother’s allowance system went viral, being viewed 24 million times on Douyin alone.
“She is not a mother, but a human resources manager,” said one online observer.
“Your mother just gets more and more excellent, haha,” wrote another.
A third online observer chimed in with a joke: “My mother used to give me a monthly allowance of 2,000 yuan (US$270). After seeing your video, she deducted 500 yuan because I don’t have a girlfriend.”
But some people slammed the mother, calling her a “control freak”.
“I feel suffocated. He is an adult studying at university, not a kid who can not take care of himself,” wrote one person.
“I am worried about his future girlfriend because this man is a mummy’s boy,” said another.
