The boy had poor grades and sometimes failed to finish his homework. The day before he died, his teacher had torn his Chinese textbook in pieces because the boy had not done his assignment properly.
"As an ordinary citizen, I make my appeal for those millions of Chinese children devastated by the exam-based education, out of my love for the kids and the determination to do something for their physical and mental health," Hu wrote.
Growing academic pressure is a threat to children's psychological health, according to Dr Ye Yiduo, a child psychologist in eastern Fujian Province.
In a survey of 6,091 children, he found that at least 20 percent of primary school students, 44 percent of junior high students and 52 percent of senior high students had psychological problems.
"These are not just abstract figures," said Hu, who quoted the figures in her letter. "Behind these figures, so many children and families are suffering. Pre-teens get up drowsily at daybreak to go to school and stay up late to finish their assignments. Many attend training courses on weekends and holidays in order to excel."
When Hu was young, in the 1980s, she said she had more fun than homework.
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