In May, it was early summer in Jishou, Hunan Province. When other students were playing in school, Xinyi, a 12-year-old, had been in hospital for more than a month, taking injections and medicine every day.

She is being treated for depression. More than a month before hospitalization, she was humiliated, beaten and blackmailed by the "school bully", isolated in the class and lost friends. Now in the ward, Xinyi will cry uncontrollably or be in a daze. Because some of the bully wore glasses, she would have a stress reaction when she saw the person wearing glasses, so it was difficult for her to return to school.

Almost at the same time, Zhou Zhao sat at the table in Chengdu Juvenile Prison of Sichuan Province (hereinafter referred to as "Chengdu Juvenile Prison") to receive education. Before he came here, he was a "celebrity" in the school, boastful and violent. If you see a classmate who is not agreeable to you, you will either taunt or humiliate him or beat him to his knees to beg for mercy. He was sentenced by the court to be sent to the prison until he participated in the 4-hour abuse and indecency against a girl.

The story of Xinyi and Zhou Zhao is not unique. On the only way home from school, bullying may be taking place in the campus toilet that cannot be seen by the monitor, in the open field in the afternoon, or behind a closed door. A survey of more than 13000 primary and secondary school students nationwide from 2018 to 2021 showed that 19.9% of the student unions were involved in campus bullying, of which 16.2% were bullies, 0.9% were bullies, and 2.8% were both bullies and victims.

"No one is the winner." Pan Lei, deputy head of the fourth prison district of Chengdu Juvenile Prison, Sichuan Province, has long been in contact with juvenile offenders, including some former bullies. To his surprise, a small number of bullies eventually served their sentences for non violent crimes such as theft, and their lives were completely changed.

　　 "If you cry in front of them, you will be beaten worse."

Wang Lei didn't have the courage to turn on the video of his daughter being bullied in his mobile phone until he accompanied Xinyi to the police station to finish the recording. In his memory, those few minutes were extremely long. When the video progress bar was finished, he found his hands shaking.

In the video, Xinyi wears a school uniform and is forced to kneel in the corner of the campus by bullies. In the evening, the sky gradually darkened, and many students held their mobile phones and flashed to record videos, which surrounded the bullying scene.

Before the slap falls, the bully will pin the hair in front of Xinyi's forehead behind his ears, and then start the "game": who can slap the face faster, more loudly, and more continuously. If it were not for the quick eye wiping action with the back of the hand, it would be difficult to see that the victim was crying. "I can't cry in front of them, or I will be beaten worse," Xinyi said.

The bullying started from a rumor after the first winter holiday in 2024. Xinyi recalled, "The person who hit me said that I told her bad words behind my back, but I didn't tell her."

Pan Lei has heard of similar reasons for bullying many times. In Chengdu, he and his colleagues have done research together and found that the beginning of campus bullying is often "an absurd excuse for violence with trivial matters".

In Pan Lei's opinion, "bullies are generally sensitive, suspicious, and have weak self-esteem. They will always pester the bullied with a 'subtle' look and a casual 'offense'. If the other party refuses to bow, it will use its' power '."

Zhou Zhao, a juvenile delinquent in the Pan Detonator District, had the experience of bullying others. In school, he and his friends often have conflicts with others, and a small matter can become an excuse for them to provoke and bully others. Once he ate in the canteen, just because his "brother" thought that one of the students had cut in the line, Zhou Zhao and his gang dragged the other party to the dormitory and beat his head to pieces.

Bullying not only brings physical harm to victims, but also affects their mental world and social relations to varying degrees. The video of Xinyi being beaten was sent to the WeChat group by the bully and eventually spread on the social platform. As a result, she became an "alien" in the school, and her few friends kept their distance from her. Even some of her former "friends" have gradually joined the ranks of the perpetrators. Xinyi said that she did not hate these people. "They are also very difficult. If they do not hit me, they will be beaten like me.".

Yin Jixiu, a psychological consultant, is no stranger to Xinyi's experience. Among the depressed teenagers who come to her for consultation, many of their nightmares begin with being bullied.

Yin Jixiu said that adolescent children are in a stage of strong desire for their peers. When they are bullied, they will feel helpless in interpersonal relationships. After they feel that it is useless to tell their parents and no one helps them, they will keep shrinking back, begin to lose interest in things around them, and are unwilling to go to school or communicate with others. Many children begin to appear autistic, Serious even self mutilation.

The reporter searched with the keywords of "bullying" and "campus bullying". In more than 200 relevant judicial documents, some victims were physically injured, some suffered from depression, and some even died of conflict

　　 Silent bullies

For more than a month when Xinyi was bullied, Wang Lei did not find nothing unusual. "Since returning to school this winter vacation, her daughter has become silent". He originally thought that it was a girl who grew up and began to have something on her mind. He didn't ask any more questions.

Not only that, Wang Lei found that his daughter also had scars from time to time. Once, when he came home from school, his daughter had blood on her mouth. When he asked why, her daughter said that "all the students were anxious to go out of school and accidentally bumped into her". But Wang Lei didn't believe this. He went to the school to find the teacher to find out the situation, but his daughter stopped him.

Wang Lei didn't understand until after the accident that his daughter was worried that even if he found a school, the teacher would only criticize the bully or ask them to write a review, which didn't have much practical effect. "My daughter was worried that they would double their revenge."

Xinyi's silence and non resistance attracted more unreasonable demands. One of the bullies began to ask Xinyi to pay 5 yuan a day for "breakfast money", and a "boss" told "younger brother" to ask Xinyi for cigarettes. If he could not take it out within a week, he would be beaten up.

After the meal money was asked to leave, Xinyi had to make a "choice" decision every morning, hungry or beaten. She mostly chooses the former, so that she can get less beating and go home early after school. When she was too hungry, she asked her classmates around for some food, and those who couldn't see it would give her some bread.

Wang Lei has always wanted to find out why the victim is his daughter? However, he found that Xinyi and the bully had almost no intersection before, let alone conflict. What he can think of is that his daughter is introverted and timid, "a weak image."

Later, her daughter told him that she had a red rash on her face and left a scar. In addition, her skin was somewhat dark. The classmates laughed at her and called her "black sister". As a result, her daughter was isolated, and her two friends were also from other classes.

The "weak" and "strange" in others' eyes made her a prey for bullies.

In the story of another bully, it was also because of his own "difference" that he became the "other" in the group. The boy was known as "Niang Pao" by his classmates because of his quiet voice, introverted personality and poor sports skills. Gradually, verbal ridicule turned into physical bullying. Someone had taken off his pants to check whether he was a boy or a girl.

During a break, he stood by the window and looked far away. The classmate who had pulled his pants suddenly came forward and pulled his leg, making him jump like a frog on one leg. No matter he begged for mercy, he was not let go. Three or four minutes later, the classmate stopped.

In Yin Jixiu's career experience, the children sitting opposite told many similar stories. In her opinion, bullying is actually a power struggle, and many children will think, "If you are different from me, you are an alien, and I will bully you".

Teenage bullying may cast a shadow on the whole life. Yin Jixiu recalled that when consulting some adults, many times he would go back to the time when he was full of gloom, was not supported, and felt abandoned by the world.

In the Chengdu Unmanaged Institute, the tragedy of some bullies eventually went to another extreme - crime. In the process of being bullied, many victims' personalities were destroyed. Some chose to be silent and endure, but others vented their feelings in other ways. In Chengdu Juvenile Prison, the most common crime of juvenile offenders who have been bullied is theft and other concealed and nonviolent crimes.

Pan Lei found that most of these juvenile offenders were introverted and unwilling to communicate with others. They also showed timidity and cowardice in daily transformation, often denied themselves, and often cried and shut themselves down when encountering conflicts and disputes.

　　 From being bullied to being violent

"Why should you bully others?" Pan Lei always asks this question when facing the juvenile offenders who used to be bullies.

"When I fight with others, my brain seems to be congested. The whole person is very excited, and it seems that I can't feel the pain of my fist," Zhou Zhao replied. Of course, he could not feel the fear and pain of the other party. It was not until the other side was bruised and knelt down to beg for mercy that he felt a satisfaction from the inside out, "I beat this man down."

Pan Lei found that one of the typical psychological characteristics of bully is taking others' pain as pleasure. Many bully did not even have a clear plan before committing violence and only enjoyed the process of bullying others

In another district of Chengdu, Luo Wei is also serving a sentence for intentional injury. At school, he often bullied his classmates. But in fact, he was also a bully. When he was in primary school, senior students often asked him for pocket money. If they couldn't take it out, they would be beaten. The heaviest time, his clothes were torn, and he was thrown into the garbage room next to the toilet.

Later, he found a group of "social people" to help him retaliate through the introduction of his classmate's brother. On the day of starting, Rowe stood by and watched, becoming a bystander from the victim of bullying. At first, he was afraid. Later, he followed the gang around several times and gradually "adapted".

Those senior bad boys didn't bully Lowe anymore, which made him feel that violence could solve many problems and make others afraid of him. The most important thing is that beating people seems to have no consequences. The most important thing is to ask parents or write a review. He began to mix with those social friends, often invited them to eat, surf the Internet, play games, and fight with them.

The first thing he learned from these "friends" was how to completely get rid of the control of his parents.

"Those people taught me that if I get angry with my parents more, they will ignore me." Luo Wei is more indulgent and more reckless in front of his parents. The restrictions and rules that used to affect him in the past are beginning to lose their effectiveness, and he has become violent and moody.

For bullying, he finally became a participant, not just satisfied with watching. In school, if someone speaks ill of him behind his back or just looks at someone who is not pleasing, he will directly use violence to bully the weaker people.

Until one night in November 2022, Rowe and his companions met people who had festivals before on their way home. "When we rush forward, we will hit them. The more the other party resists, the more ferocious I will hit them." Rowe, dazed by the violence, takes out his knife and stabs the other party.

The man in front fell down, and the scene of the fight suddenly quieted down. Rowe was frightened, and then ran away. He no longer had the courage before.

Now, after leaving the small group in Chengdu, he has returned to his original appearance, closed and cowardly. Pan Lei remembers that once Luo Wei and his team members had a body grab. The police recovered the story of the incident by taking surveillance videos and asking the people on the scene. They found that the main fault was the other party. Luo Wei was the bullied party, but he did not reflect the truth to the police.

　　 Failure of family and school education

In Zhou Zhao's memory, the relationship between him and his parents has been strained since primary school. He changed school, because he was difficult to adapt to the new environment, his grades declined, and he began to be tired of studying. Gradually, he became playful, often playing truant and fighting.

Zhou Zhao's parents, who are in business, seldom communicate with themselves. He recalled that when his parents opened their mouth, they were all wrong with themselves and emphasized learning with him. Zhou Zhao couldn't listen at all. In order to avoid disputes with his parents, he tried to speak less at home. As a result, the atmosphere at home becomes more repressive and tense. Zhou Zhao gradually felt unbearable. "He didn't want to stay at home for a minute."

Not going home will result in more strict restrictions. The first is economic control. If you want to buy something, you need to satisfy your parents with the exam results. Unable to do so, he began to borrow money from friends everywhere. If you borrowed it and didn't pay it back, you had to lie to your parents. The parent-child relationship has become more and more estranged, and parents have become more and more distrustful of him, even if he is telling the truth.

The second is time control. Rowe's father thinks that time should be spent on learning, and playing is a waste of life. Luo Wei likes playing basketball. Once he went to play basketball in the community, but his father only gave him 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, my father really appeared at the basketball court and asked him to go home. Rowe felt ashamed and refused his father's request. To his surprise, his father slapped him in the face of his friends and called him "climb back!"

This kind of beating and scolding is almost common. After his father gets drunk, his violence will further escalate. Sometimes, Luo Weixin will be afraid to make a noise at home.

In order to find an emotional outlet, Rowe vented his depression at home. He mingled with some classmates with similar interests, even "social friends". "I feel happy with them, whether fighting or drinking."

Especially when he bullied his classmates, his fist dropped, which made him feel more relaxed.

"Through the investigation of the criminal group, we can see that a key factor hidden in the bullying incident is the failure of family and school education." For the criminals who have been detained in recent years, Pan Lei and his team have done a lot of research by means of heart to heart talks with criminals, understanding the growth trajectory of criminals' families, reviewing and deducing the case.

Pan Lei found that most of these juvenile offenders had a tense relationship with their parents. Many parents have less communication with their children, and only care for their children materially, or parents only care about their children's achievements.

On the other hand, many of these juvenile offenders have not developed good learning habits since childhood, and the proportion of left behind children and boarding students among them is relatively high, which is easy to form small groups. Due to the lack of correct guidance, they often use violence to solve problems; The school pays more attention to the entrance rate, only pays attention to the students with excellent grades, and neglects to teach students in ideological and moral character, laws and regulations, interpersonal relationships, etc.

Since 2016, a project called "Peer Action" to improve campus bullying has been launched in many middle schools in Jinan, Shandong Province.

The project adopts the form of applied drama, which is created by recruited middle school students. Many people's experience comes from things they see or experience everyday.

Zhao Jing, the project leader, was impressed that in one of the plays, a "teacher" said that when he found that there were contradictions between students, he comforted the bullied children and said, "You should also reflect on yourself. The flies don't bite the seamless eggs.". "It seems that the teacher thinks he is standing in a relatively fair and just perspective, but for the bullied, this is the victim's guilt, and there is no sense of fairness and justice. Many students will stop asking for help."

Mr. Ai from Shaanxi Fuyuanhui Character Development Center has worked as a social worker in the front line for five years. She believes that one of the problems in improving the practice of bullying on campus is that no one teaches what teachers should do and what parents should do. "Most of the time, we would suggest that bullied children tell their parents and teachers, and then what?

　　 Long pain

Since the beginning of April, Xinyi has been receiving treatment for depression in the hospital.

Now in the ward, she still thinks of her fear of school in the days when she was bullied. It was an inextricable pain. Once she picked up a blade in class and scratched it on her wrist. On several occasions, she even thought about jumping off a building. She had wandered around the corridor of the school, "It's better to be relieved." But thinking of her parents, she stopped again.

Wang Lei learned from the police that there were 15 people involved in bullying their daughter. A diagnosis book of Xinyi recorded the consequences of their bullying: the left eardrum was perforated, and there were multiple bruises on her body. The Self Rating Depression Scale measured that she had moderate depressive symptoms.

"The other day, I saw Xinyi shaking her head on the bed and mumbling something." When seeing this scene, Xinyi's mother Yang Zhihua instantly reddened her eyes.

Everything related to the bully will frighten Xinyi. Yang Zhihua revealed that there was a girl wearing glasses who was very aggressive, so she was very afraid of her peers wearing glasses. Not only that, Xinyi will suddenly collapse when she sees the school teacher in the hospital. "The leaders of the school all know that I was beaten, but the matter has not been resolved. Those people will definitely hit me again, I'm afraid." She said to her mother.

Over the past month, Xinyi's illness has been repeated, but it has finally improved a bit. According to the plan of Wang Lei and his wife, after Xinyi recovers, she will also help her transfer to another school. But she has been afraid of school. "I'm afraid of school, and I don't want to make friends. It's no use making friends."

These days, Xinyi saw the video of her classmates going out to study on her mobile phone. There were several bullies there. She had not yet waited for the bully to apologize, which confused her. "Why does it seem that nothing has happened to my bully, and I still have to suffer from it?"

(Cultural Center Yi, Zhou Zhao, Wang Lei, Luo Wei, Yang Zhihua are pseudonyms)

Beijing News reporter Qin Bing Zhao Min intern Hao Zhelin Zhang Xinhui

Editor in charge: Zhang Yu