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China father ties son with rope and speaks with police about his school dropout

Father travels over 1,000km from job to discipline boy, who had stopped going to school and was drinking and smoking

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In central China, a father publicly bound his son with rope for failing school, sparking a debate on parenting styles. 
Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin
Alice Yanin Shanghai

A man in central China bound his teenage son with rope in public because the boy was failing out of school, igniting a heated debate about parenting styles in the country.

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The two were caught on video fighting in Hunan province as the boy resisted his father’s attempts to restrain him with ropes and take him to the police station, according to Mengma Video.

The altercation occurred outside a store, where the owner told local media that the father, who was not identified, was a migrant worker who had travelled 1,000km from Zhejiang in eastern China to Hunan after the boy’s teachers called to complain about him.

The shop owner said that the teenager, who was between 14 and 15 years old, regularly skipped classes and had been on the verge of dropping out for some time. It was unclear if the boy’s mother was involved in his life.

The altercation happened outside a store when the father found his son loitering instead of attending school after travelling 1,000km back to Hunan. Photo: Douyin/西部网
The altercation happened outside a store when the father found his son loitering instead of attending school after travelling 1,000km back to Hunan. Photo: Douyin/西部网

“He just hangs around on the street. He smokes and is addicted to alcohol and gambling,” the store owner said.

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When the father returned to Hunan province and found the boy on the street, he informed his son that he was about to take him to a police station to “receive an education.” The boy did not comply with his father.

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