Story Archive

A Salute to the Flag

Students and their parents assembled for the opening ceremony of a new term at a kindergarten in Shenzhen, China, but the students, being 3 to 6 years old, probably didn’t fully appreciate what they saw. Some of the parents didn’t either. At the bottom of the flagpole — the same pole that had the country’s flag at the top — was a dancer. “Before our kids got out of kindergarten for the summer, there was 10 days of military ‘activities’ and displays of machine guns and mortars at the door; now the principal has welcomed them back with a strip pole dance,” tweeted one of the parents, American journalist Michael Standaert, who posted his complaints — illustrated with videos — on Twitter. Principal Lai Rong said “a few parents” wanted tuition refunds, but some were more interested in learning “a new type of dance.” Lai was fired, and complained that “The Internet is too powerful.” (AC/CNN, New York Times) ...Why didn’t the censors protect her from criticism?