HONG KONG—Thousands of military academy students in central China’s Anhui province are rioting after news spread that the government wouldn’t recognize diplomas awarded to the fee-paying students.
There is a 15-story building on campus. It’s been vacated. The iron doors in the corridors were smashed. In the morning armed police and police cars arrived to restore order. Their attempts were futile.
Hefei military academy student, surnamed Peng
“It was total chaos. Many people were beaten and were bleeding. The school buildings are a mess,” one student, surnamed Peng, told RFA’s Mandarin service.
“There is a 15-story building on campus. It’s been vacated. The iron doors in the corridors were smashed. In the morning armed police and police cars arrived to restore order. Their attempts were futile. Police cars were overturned,” Peng said.
“Even the automatic iron gates on campus were wrecked. The situation is really tense now. I hear that either tomorrow or the day after the Nanjing Military Region will send personnel to restore order.”

Different categories of student

The rioting began Nov. 28 and worsened Nov. 29, witnesses said. Classes have been cancelled and windows smashed. It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone had been injured.
The Hefei People's Liberation Army Artillery Academy comprises three types of students: fully registered cadets with military status, fully registered students without military status studying for civil degrees, and self-funding “contract students,” according to the academy's Web site.
“The students rioted because they are angry that their diplomas are fake,” Peng said, estimating that 6,000 to 7,000 self-funded students had joined the rioting. “The school sent military personnel to mediate. The students beat them and drove them away—even the military officers. Everyone is like an angry lion now.”
A female administrator at the Academy confirmed that rioting was going on. Asked if the rioters were students, she replied that all were students from “the sixth department… They are informal students without military status.”
A teacher at the academy, surnamed Ren, denied that rioting had occurred but added, “It could happen to any school. There are always some students who do not want to study. Right?”

Warning to media

“The majority of the students are good students. Those [who do not like to study] will be severely dealt with. What do the students know? Including the seniors. They have not even gotten their diplomas yet.”
“Only a small number of students with their own agenda were fanning the fire. I have told you too much already. If you are a reporter, I advise you not to touch things related to a military academy,” Ren said.
Some students have posted complaints online indicating that that they had started rioting because neither the Education Ministry nor the Military Commission would recognize their diplomas. “On no account enroll at the Artillery Academy. On no account enroll at the Academy’s sixth department,” said one posting.
Private colleges have boomed in China in the last decade, enrolling those who fall short in highly competitive exams required for admission to prestigious—and far more tightly regulated—state universities.
Similar riots also erupted at private colleges in the central province of Henan in June 2006, and at two colleges in Jiangxi in October 2006. In one Jiangxi incident, thousands of students who were angry at the wording on their diplomas ransacked their campus, setting fire to cars and dormitory buildings.

Original reporting by Yan Xiu for RFA’s Mandarin service. Service director: Jennifer Chou. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han. Edited by Luisetta Mudie.