177 students took part in a survey about school bullying. It was conducted at educational institutions in the Chinese capital, Beijing, and the provinces of Guangdong and Sichuan. The participants were either directly or indirectly involved in bullying incidents at school.

The sample size included 144 males and 33 females. Mainly between the ages of 14 and 17, the results showed that a quarter were from a divorced or a single-parent family. When asked how their parents would react if they grievously misbehaved, more than half said they'd be pragmatic and hear what they had to say. However, nearly a third of parents would give them a verbal lashing, while one in seven would resort to a physical punishment of some description. Three percent said their parents wouldn't care one way or the other.

Nearly two-thirds said they were provoked into fights by petty things that angered them, while others were motivated by revenge and money. But what was astonishing to find out was that nearly a fifth of the participants said their teachers and school staff would just turn a blind eye to these issues. Meanwhile, just over two in three of them said the likely punishment would deter them in any way from violent behavior.