In late January and early February, Liu Haiyang reportedly attacked the animals three times with the corrosive liquid after carrying out a well-conceived plan, and was caught running away from the scene on February 23.

The student, a senior from Tsinghua University in Beijing, who was set to sail straight into the university's graduate programme, argued he was only trying to find out whether bears have sensitivity for olfaction, without knowing that bears have never been taught to sense imminent danger from the liquid.

Liu has been detained by the police and is likely to get a ten- year sentence, according to Criminal Law.

The case drew attention from people from all walks of life.

Tsinghua University students are generally considered the country's top students, as they have to beat thousands in the national college entrance exams before being admitted.

While the case has aroused intense public emotion over the suffering of the bears, mass media and education experts are also trying to find out what made this academically-accomplished young man allegedly perform such a cruel act.

People linked Liu's story with another case in which a 17-year-old middle school student in Jinhua, in East China's Zhejiang Province. The student killed his mother who set great pressure and unrealistic academic requirements on him.

Growing pains

The two cases gave education experts much food for thought, triggering introspection on the effects today's education has had on the minds of Chinese young people.

Although such examples are extreme, they are not rare.

A 17-year-old boy in Northeast China's Liaoning Province committed suicide after missing a chance to meet his idol, pop star Zhao Wei (Vicky Zhao), who became famous for starring in a TV series.

"The current education methods that emphasize high academic scores are quite unscientific in many ways," said Lu Shizhen, a professor at the College of Chinese Youth Politics. "They lead to the unhealthy personality and mentality of many teenagers and young people."

Lu's view is shared by many juvenile research experts, including Tang Denghua, from the mental health research institute of Peking University.

Tang agreed that Liu Haiyang and the teenager from Jinhua, as well as other youngsters in similar cases, are mentally unhealthy.

They are among the 15 out of every thousand people who suffer from depression, a major type of mental illness, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health in 2000.

The incidence occurrence rate is similar to those in developed countries.

Protecting youngsters

Concerned experts believe that the problem might be more serious among the country's next generation.

Wang Yufeng, another professor at Tang's institute, estimated that among the approximate 340 million young persons below the age of 17, about 30 million are experiencing some kind of psychological problem.

"In recent years, the number of people with mental problems has increased sharply in China, and the estimate, based on a small-scale survey conducted years ago, is quite conservative," said Wang.

According to Wang, statistics indicate that the rate of depression among primary school and middle school students ranges between 21 percent to 32 percent, while that of university students is 16 to 25 percent.

"Inconsistent with the rapid improvement of young people's physique, there is a degradation of their mentality and personality, which I call 'the desertification of the inner world'," Sun Yunxiao, vice-director of the China Juvenile Research Centre, said.

Sun has published a book in which he raises many new ideas on the relation between children and their teachers and families.

The book, entitled "Children Without Secrets Never Grow Up," is jointly finished by Sun and his "Netfriends."

In order to establish a better understanding of the new generation, Sun launched a website two years ago, where he meets with these Netfriends - teenagers from across the country who regularly visit the chatroom at his website to exchanges views.

The book, containing records of such online chats, documents the dialogue of ideas between Sun and youngsters.

"Desertification of the inner world" is one of the views raised in the book.

Under the current education system, entering into a university is the single ultimate goal of school children, Sun said.

In order to fulfil this end, everything is sacrificed. Academic results become the only way to measure whether a student is a "good student" or "bad student."

Like gambling: parents, teachers and even young people themselves stake their future on the outcome of the university entrance examination, held in July every year, while the development of a healthy mentality has been neglected.

Liu Haiyang's mother said she thought that getting high academic scores and diplomas were the only route to Liu's happiness.

While subjects such as mathematics and chemistry are given priority, courses in the arts and music count for little.

"Apart from academic results, humanities such as literature, arts and music are also necessary to make the students' personality complete," Sun said. "They help improve students' emotional quotient and foster a healthy mentality."

According to Sun, a survey by the Chinese Juvenile Research Centre found many students said music and arts are the courses they most dislike.

Lacking the edification of aesthetics, young people are found to lack emotional quotients and are more likely to have mental problems.

The story of Liu Haiyang may best illustrate this view, he said.

According to the Beijing Evening News, Liu Haiyang was good at science, but showed no interest in literature and other liberal arts subjects.

In his book cabinet, there were many books on physics, chemistry and math. However, there were almost no literary works.

The only exception was "Outlaws of the Marsh," an ancient novel known to almost every household in China.

But Liu's mother said he has not even thumbed through the novel.

(China Daily March 11, 2002)