Videos

“Blow Up No. 3 Middle School” Chinese Students Punished

by on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 53 comments comments

Chinese high school students in Jingzhou Hubei province make a video where they blow up their school.

From QQ, Sohu, & NetEase:

Hubei high school students who filmed “Blow Up No. 3 Middle School” parody video punished

Recently, a video titled “Blow Up No. 3 Middle School” appeared on Tudou [a popular Chinese video sharing website], and was greatly circulated within days, with over 20,000 hits. In the video, several high school students wearing camouflage, simulating a special forces operations, and with the “sacrifice” of one person’s life, successfully “blew up No. 3 Middle School”.

This video was filmed at Shashi Middle School in Jingzhou City, with the director “Xiao Ban” (online nickname) being a student of the school. Afterward, the school gave “Xiao Ban” a demerit punishment and the other participating students were given criticism punishments. When this was made public, it cause a great uproar on the internet.

A copy on YouTube:

Can’t see the above video?

The video dialogue is all in English with Chinese subtitles. There are dozens of copies of this video on China’s video sharing websites. On Tudou, the most viewed copy has ~650k views, while the most viewed copy on Youku has over 900k views, both having been uploaded approximately 6 days ago. Many other copies have tens to hundreds of thousands of views each (at time of translation).

Several Chinese high school students in camouflage riding a motorcycle truck to conduct their operation of blowing up their school.

A defender of the school.

School defenders shoot back.

Chinese high school students shooting guns in "Blow Up No. 3 Middle School".

Chinese high school students in Jingzhou Hubei province make a video where they blow up their school.

Chinese high school students in Jingzhou Hubei province make a video where they blow up their school.

A school defender is shot.

Chinese high school students in Jingzhou Hubei province make a video where they blow up their school.

Comments from QQ:

腾讯网友 夜色:

[Their mistake was] in not choosing a positive theme [for their video] only, but for teenagers, their production was very good! Jia you! Even domestic films don’t have this kind of blockbuster air/style! But of course, I recommend that you guys next time make some films that show more positive images!

腾讯北京市网友 黎明:

Sufficiently demonstrates the failure of education today.
Reflects the loathing students have for school.

腾讯网友 ═╪^霦尐:

Such creative students. Were this overseas, their school principals would be rushing to praise them!!.. Disgusting Chinese education! Only knowing how to confine students’ thinking!!

佛山市 黄高东:

If we see students pretending to conduct a terrorist attack as a kind of creativity/innovation, then I am truly speechless. Actually, what many people are appreciating is nothing more than these students’ technical skill, but speaking of its themes and content, how can we even bring up creativity/originality? Let me ask, if our students all took pride in spoofing their schools, took pleasure in doing so, what would our society’s moral standards be like in the future? When we appreciate/admire a person, should we admire their skill or should we attach more importance to their morality? Ladies and gentlemen, please carefully think it over.

腾讯临沂市网友 Type:

Fuck, if we go according to what you say, then America has so many heartless directors, how TM immoral they all are, deriving pleasure from killing people.

腾讯宿州市网友 宁桔:

These students are very talented. I’m sure often talented people are ranked near the bottom academically, but I think this school’s best students probably wouldn’t have this kind of creativity.

腾讯金华市网友 小明:

I like it. This could be the new Feng Xiaogang or Zhang Yimou. The way the school responded to this is disagreeable. The students are of 2011, the teachers of 1911.

腾讯无锡市网友 情有独钟:

Playing is also a kind of skill/talent.

腾讯鞍山市网友 阿阳发艺/aiq:

This kind of publicity can be beneficial for the school, but by deciding to punish, the school has lost this publicity opportunity. That the school can produce this kind of student is truly a rare and commendable thing. [That these students] have this kind of creativity, this kind of skill, this kind of English ability, the school should feel proud and gratified! What if he becomes a big director for China in the future? You wouldn’t even be worthy of taking off his shoes then!!! Hope you guys can give the children a chance, fostering them instead of blaming them!!!!

河南省 草原上的鹰:

I think the school principal should watch and then laugh it off, hold a meeting and praise [the students], but also ask/emphasize: If No. 3 Middle School is blown up, where will we all go then? Right? Don’t take it so seriously. These children are so cute/adorable!

腾讯北京市网友 明:

Blowing up the White House, kidnapping the president, using nuclear bombs or poisonous gas bombs to take revenge against society, Hollywood sure has a lot of traitors to their country.

腾讯网友 白痴超人:

Very creative. Also very brave and exciting. The school’s reaction is also very S13. This kind of thing the school should just laugh and let it pass. Being so harsh will only make the school look narrow-minded and lacking in innovative thinking. This kind kind of school I wouldn’t want my kids going to.

腾讯洛阳市网友 三菟部落:

Very good, very creative. China is always like this, right as you’re about to take flight, there are already innumerable hunters with their guns aimed ahead of you [to shoot you down]. Whatever they don’t want to succeed, whatever ideal they don’t want to realize, no one else can think about realizing either.

What do you think? About the students’ video? About the school’s response?

Setting a bomb.

  • anon

    Wow, these netizens are being incredibly generous with their praise because that video was just horrible. Granted, they’re just high school kids who played too much Counter-Strike. Granted, very few of us made high school project videos of James Cameron quality back when we were their age. But…

    • anon

      One thing I think is funny is the comment that foreign schools would be rushing to praise these kids. At least in America, supposing these kids managed to actually pull off filming without school security or local police shooting them dead the moment they appeared with their toy guns, the school administration would have them reported to the police so fast their heads would spin, such as the fears of school shootings are in America.

      • Leo

        In conclusion, there are idiots on both Chinese and foreign sides. The end.

      • ZlsetrdX

        Seriously?

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Dude, you’re a great guy and all, but I have to do this: you’re absolutely wrong. This is among the awesomestic things I’ve seen here a chinaSMACK. Boys, you get the terroir “Seal (arf-arf) of Approval”.

      They’re living out their video game fantasies, but using an 80′s B-movie as a template and all kick-ass as the filler.

      1) All the bad guys are upper-class neon-colored polo-wearing bourgeoise; they’re like European bad-guys for Americans

      2) Ten years of learning English has finally paid off!! While other Chinese are grovelling to foreigners, these kids have hit the artistic high of emulating a Japanese video game about the West (ie Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid). All English teachers in China should follow suit and make their kids act out cut-scenes — mission briefings if their English is top-notch.

      3) They suck at strategic placement and tactics, but then again they are kids. However, it’s clear that they have a great spatial awareness of the place as they smartly film an incursion into this place, and allow us the audience to actually fall into this same illusion. (After watching it, do you think you can walk to where they set the bomb? Yup, you think you can….) The last part of the bomb in the storeroom on the bridge was brillant planning.. it is a logical conclusion for a climatic feature.
      [3a) It’s obvious they know the place so well from going to school there, so it’s cool that while others attend school with dreariness and drudgery, this kids are analyzing the architecture and layout of the school to have gunfights — well, I mean it’s creative

      4) One of their own team gets hit, and there’s a total “Bro, I love you” moment; their lack of English only serves to heighten the emotional impact/awkwardness. Though there’s no “NOOOoooooo! Don’t you give up on me, dammit!”, the scene is tightened up with a nice short “Wake! Wake!” that propells the exposition along very nicely in a way that the movies we watch should.

      5) The single best thing about this is that though this is a mismash of several influences mashed together, there isn’t any one big influence/rip-off. They got away by making a video that is actually (deep breath here) somewhat original in China.

      The plot is so generic that every video game has one; it’s either the tutorial or the last mission, go figure. The action is mild, and the dialogue is trite. It has many things wrong with it, least of all the security guards just sitting at the gate.

      But! This isn’t just a copy-cat video (like the awesome CoD shot by shot remakes you can find on Youtube) with Chinese characteristics — it is, for lack of a better word, a real 80′s B-movie done in China, one made out of curiosity, inspiration and fun.

      I hate the fact because I’ve joked around so much that no one takes me seriously, but I do mean it: these kids are awesome. They’re going to inspire other kids, and make (better) movies.

      This bad movie is GREAT!

      • Joe

        All movies use tropes. For example, Avatar basically has the same plot as Pocahontas. It was only bad because of the crude filming, but this adds to the amateur effect. I agree, it’s a great video!

        • hanyucha

          and Fern Gulley

        • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

          This troper burst into literal saline tears at the “Sleeping Beauty” reference so lovingly encoded into this tapestry of focused belaboring. This troper fell further down the rabbit hole at the at the “Go, go…” response that so eloquently stated the obvious with as few prepostitions or tenses.

      • anon

        I still think the video was so cheesy I could barely sit through it, but I do like your Seal of Approval.

        • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

          Dude, I have extra awesome to add to this awesomesauce.

          Note to Fauna:
          There is an extra bit added onto this video at the end after the credits; it starts at 4:39 of the video and unlike the rest of the video it is in Chinese with no English subtitles. It may have been the exact thing that upset the school head the most. If it isn’t obvious enough, the voices are dubbed and background noise like the car engine are cut out.

          [scene: gate of the school. A black car rolls up to the camera operator, and the driver rolls down the window to ask the cameraman a question]

          DRIVER: What are you guys doing here?

          CAMERA OPERATOR: Hold it, don’t let them get away!

          DRIVER: Are you two armed forces here to blow up the school?

          PASSENGER IN BACK [rolls down window]:　Principal Deng, lets get out of here?

          DRIVER: Let’s go!

          [final title card]
          History will forever remember them

          YYYYyyyeaaaahhhh! The kids are alright!

          “Seal of Approval” has been bumped up to “Seal God of Kick-Ass of Approval”. terroir salutes you, younglings.

    • Canadian_Skies

      They were punished?

      So much for artistic expression. Art has historically been appreciated each time it pushes the envelope. I think the greatest achievement of their creation is the poorly received response from governing parties.

      These kids are geniuses!

    • yournametobynow

      Actually it wasn’t that bad – I make videos with my university students and I’d be surprised if they came up with something this good by themselves.

      They could stand to take a film class, though – there are a lot of right/left movement problems, but some of the shots are really well-done considering it was done with a handheld. I can’t believe that security let them set off smoke bombs at the front gate, though.

  • 平凡人

    Not bad for middle school students, however if they have chosen a different title and remove the scene where they were planting C4 at the V.Principal’s office; they would have got away with it. However, we start to wonder why such a title was chosen? They did not like their school very much, probably the V.Principal is the most unpopular.

    • Just John

      Are you serious? They don’t like their school? You mean someone DOES like their school?

      I talk to adults, and I get horror stories that make them want to curl up in the fetal position…

      I have yet to actually see someone, child or adult, say “I love/loved school”.

      • 平凡人

        Well, I love my Alma Mater and I am currently in the old boys association. There are lots of people out there who love their schools, of course there are some who think other wise.

        For your information, there are a lot of adults out there who are contributing boat load of $$$ to their Alma Mater and would love to see their own children attend the same school. The school you attended probably produced a lot of juvenile delinquent.

      • ander

        You need to talk to more adults (and high school students). There are plenty of people out there who do love their schools. Even in China.

        As for the video, out of line. The students who were involved in making it should punished.

        • Just John

          I am an adult, you patronizing ass.
          Happily married, 2 teenage children, blah blah.

          However, you seem to have forgotten exactly what school is like.

          While some like their school, I would say that most do not. Fact? No. Opinion? Yes. Go talk to some kids and I can almost bet you will find more against then for.

          Now, go teach your grandchildren how to play stick and ball old man and gtfo my internet.

  • monyxie

    I don’t think this is good. Good guys don’t blow up schools in Hollywood movies.

    • Joe

      Oh please. They have to travel all the way to Xinjiang to find a REAL Uyghur rebel base or something just to film a video?

  • fenqing

    Do this at a american school, and you won’t play against your friends with fake guns, you will play against SWAT team with real guns.

  • Justin

    I love their “tactical vehicle.” I wonder if the PLA special forces use one of those 电驴 (electric donkeys), too.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Lest you forget: the PLA has Segways

  • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

    Man, do I have to do everything?! Here’s my pitch:

    Comrade students: an evil terrorist organization has infiltrated your school; they are foreigners, and as for which terrorist organization — it doesn’t matter: get them a skin tone far away from glorious yellow!

    Your mission: repel the foreigner, reinstate the glory of China, jiayou jiayou!!! Bonus 1Up if you can burn the flags of foreign countries, triple bonus if you can convince the runt of the litter to don a “Tojo” moustache and pretend to be Japanese so the other kids can torture him, Quad damage if you can put in a pithy one-liner translated from English: consider it a divorce, I’m getting too old for this shit, Yippee ky-yay TMD.

    Boom. National heroes. And, that’s what I’d call this movie too. Money, please.

    • GT

      Hahaha, gold. Pure gold.

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        Okayokayokay… tagline(s) of “National Heroes”:

        “Their pride doesn’t unfurl like the flag of China in the wind… it infuriates!”
        “Piss off this mellow yellow, and “Red pride” will make sure you’re dead-ified… like their ancestors!”
        “Passive-aggressiveness… in your face! To the extreme!”
        “They’ll make sure that laowai are indeed self-entitled… to disembowelment!”
        “Because a bullet from a Chinese gun is bitter – deathly bitter.”

  • MrT

    They would get shot dead if they walked around a school in UK or USA with guns fake or not…

  • hanyucha

    We break up,
    We break up,
    We don’t care if the school blows up,
    No more teacher,
    No more school,
    Teaching me to be a fool!

  • Jones

    I wish I had more hands so I could give this FOUR THUMBS DOWN.

  • donscarletti

    These kids suck.

    They get to a stairwell:
    -First guy runs across, exposing himself to fire from the stairwell itself, then turns to cover it.
    -Second guy takes the position that the first should have taken, in cover at the _near_ corner, but the first guy already has the stairwell covered, albeit in a stupidly risky way.
    -Third guy charges up the stairs, completely exposed, facing forward with nobody covering the landing above him.
    Meanwhile, two people are exposed to fire from the balcony and from the hallway behind them.

    Don’t they even play FPS games?

    • http://www.qq.com/1325279774 Kedafu

      You are right, they were not covering eachother, and not checking the corners….

      still, a classic,

      just like this song of the article

      The Warrior Song
      -US Military, Propaganda Division

      http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/videos/us-military-the-warrior-song-chinese-netizens-reactions.html

      wumaodang

      • donscarletti

        Duce et decorum pro patria morae, eh?

        Our lot just recruits with the 1812 overture or more recently some generic electric guitar.

        Reminds me of something an infantry captain told me about Vietnam, rule #1 shut the fuck up in the jungle, rule #2 stay away from American patrols because that’s where Charlie is going to be the most pissed off.

        • darkandlovelykissedbythe

          Is pendeo si causa est verum iustus necne iustus.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Though Counter-Strike is insanely popular in China, they’re not “playing” CS — it’s obvious they’re playing an FPS that uses a rechargable health bar and constant respawning.

      I’d say Halo but Xbox360 isn’t (officially) harmonious in the celestial kingdom. Forgive my ignorance, but maybe CoD? Is renewable health in this game the equivalent of windshield wipers that wipe away the blood on the screen?

  • mao420

    these guys should send their video to Harward. lol.
    Truley, In America they would have gotten away 20 years ago. But lately there have been so many school shootings that I dont think they would take it lightly…..

  • DrZhu

    Great job boys, don’t listen to the scumbags that put you down!!! You would make Mao proud!!!

  • Alikese

    Good thinking school, stifle that creativity! We don’t want the students trying to think for themselves.

  • Anon

    ‘Such creative students. Were this overseas, their school principals would be rushing to praise them!!’

    Haha, no way. If kids in America made a film like this, the cops would definitely be called, if not the FBI. Schools take this stuff very seriously, whether it’s just a joke or not. With the amount of school violence all over the world as of late, this sort of thing can’t and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
    It’s good the boys worked so hard on a school project, but they should have asked a teacher if it was okay.

  • Master Huang

    E for effort, the rest is A… A big piece of shit. This could be a great gay movie though, the boys are girly.

  • Hongjian

    sigh… yet again.

    I think all americans should kindly line themselves up and be prepared to get shot.

    • Jones

      Haha unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.

      You need more variety. You’re just getting lazy now.

      • Hongjian

        >You need more variety. You’re just getting lazy now.

        yep.

        redundancy and boring/predictable reactions demands an answer of its kind.

        I know ChinaSmack is pretty much a sub-standard tabloid, but do you faggots seriously have to behave like the typical readers of said tabloid?

        If yes, then my troll is just deserved.

        All americans should be lined up and shot.

        • Jones

          >redundancy and boring/predictable reactions demands an answer of its kind.

          I totally agree. But do you not think that this boring and predictable message board can’t be livened up by, say, a new mass execution method for each article? For example: On the article about the guys covering themselves in bees, why not wish all of us Americans have severe bee allergies and then be covered by a bunch of bees? I see that as still being redundant enough (all of your comments are wishing death to all Americans) but unique enough (different, creative executions) to achieve both your and my wishes. You get your redundancy, I get my variety and color.

          I know, Hongjian, that you are a flexible guy in both physical and mental dexterity. I believe that if we achieve this compromise, we can really do a lot for the community. Don’t you agree?

    • lonetrey

      sigh… yet again.

      I think all trolls should kindly line themselves up and be prepared to get shot.

    • kfu

      lol a chinese shit who ran to the west is bitching now he’s safely back in china?

      nanking was delicious. I hope you mouth off in public and get beaten to death in back alley while another man fucks your girlfriend.

  • http://unblockfacebookinchina.info/vpn-in-china Rod

    Well done to these kids. Creative and self-motivated. Which is a lot more than I can say for any of my students. Ok, so it’s got something to do with school which gets them in trouble. If it was the local supermarket no one would have cared.

    And good job on the engllish. I mean, It wasn’t great, but at least they were trying.

  • Joe

    >make a film
    >get punished
    Yeah, China will always be second rate.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      [sung]
      “Children. Children. Future. Future.
      Children. Children. Future. Future.
      Children are the future, hey hey hey
      Children are the future, hey hey hey
      da-da, da da da da dada da……………..KIDS!”

  • King Tubby

    China’s version of If (Lindsay Anderson). The plot would be improved if a few high end cars were keyed in the early scenes and the producers included a Bonneville 650 ..the coolest two wheels ever.
    Lets hope they move beyond theatrics into Weather Underground reality.

  • Capt. WED

    At least they’re not holed in a cafe playing *gasp* CS FUCKING 1.6.

  • william

    Hey its a nice short film nicely planned and its happy to see it is in english. we need to accept this as acerative thinking from young peoples, people do have many talents, it differs, these people had this talent, nice going guys keep it up use your talents in doing good to society. wish you good luck

  • Appalled@everything

    haha. Love those pics.

    pic 1. Armored Troop Transport – on the cheap, with Chinese flavor

    pic 2. Yellow shirt boy displays how to not shoot a gun and how to enable a hernia within a single round of fire.

    pic 3. Though his friend suggested a less bright color of clothing, pink shirt boy scoffed and started shooting wildly without any clear sense of firearm control.

    pic 4. Believing that lying on top of a small wooden table with the butt of his rifle firmly pressed up against his small glass spectacles would save him from enemy fire, the guy whose friends called “really weird trigger hand position guy” prepared to attack.
    pic 5. sideways hat boy shoots off a few round while uttering the words “can’t touch this” repeatedly until an enemy bullet blows his head apart.

    pic 6. In an attack of simultaneous rebellion against his mother for making him undergo so much orthodontic work, and anger against the establishment for trying to give him an education: black shirt teen fires his gun into the crowd of faculty members and in doing so, while incorrectly gripping his weapon, incurs viscous injuries and damage to his jaw and teeth from the rifle recoil.

    pic 7. pink shirt boy dies in agony wishing he had worn a less bright, less pink and less stupid looking shirt.

    pic 8. running from the safety and cover of the small wooden table lying on the floor, “really weird trigger hand position guy” finds his comrade facing death and eases his suffering by giving him a gentle handjob.

  • Sunshine

    Last scene 太给力了 LOL. I had to wipe my screen after.

  • Abu

    Give them a break, its just a harmless joke. Besides we come across violent movies all the time, made by grown ups, what’s that reflecting on to? Such inovative spirit should be appreciated though with a hint of right direction.

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