Father forces son to parade naked on streets

By Chen Qian  |   2008-12-16  |     ONLINE EDITION

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy in Hubei Province was forced to parade naked through the streets by his father after he performed poorly at school.

A paper board was hung around the boy's chest. It read: "I promise to be No. 1 on the next exam."

His father was not satisfied with his son's latest exam marks, which ranked No. 5 in the school. He paraded the naked boy from their residential complex in Wuchang City to the school yesterday afternoon, Hubei-based Chutian Metropolis Daily reported today.

During the parade, the father frequently beat the boy, identified by the pseudonym Bin Bin. The boy's legs and buttocks were badly bruised, the report said.

The father told the newspaper Bin had said he finished first in a school competition but that teachers proved he was lying. The father also thought scoring top marks on every test was a reasonable expectation, according to the report.

"My father asked me to be the top one on every exam," Bin was quoted as saying when asked why he lied to his father.

Bin's mother said the boy is told to do a lot of homework everyday, according to the report.

"His father hopes he will get a doctoral degree," she told the newspaper. "He beats him if he doesn't behave well."

The mother added that Bin was embarrassed about having to parade naked through the streets.

Bin's parents are both street vendors with little education, the report said.

A lawyer living in Bin's complex told the newspaper the father's actions infringed the boy's personal dignity that could leave him with emotional scars.

The father promised not to treat the son like this any more after police and neighborhood committee officials visited the family's home.