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The Shanghai government’s decision to grant permanent residence to a teacher has been denounced after Internet users discovered an unsavory incident in the teacher's past.

According to an official announcement released by the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau in October, the teacher, surnamed Miu, is eligible for a Shanghai hukou (household registration), along with 621 other candidates. However, Miu, who works as a Chinese teacher in a local middle school, reportedly attacked a doctor in 2015, breaking the doctor's nose.

Miu’s possible access to a Shanghai hukou has irritated many people, with some condemning her violent behavior and demanding that moral standards be set for getting a hukou in Shanghai. In an online poll conducted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League on Sina Weibo, over 97 percent of the 4,700 voters said she should be punished, and that she should not receive a Shanghai hukou.

“[The woman] cannot even control her temper, and she beat a doctor senseless. How can such a person guide students? If violent behavior is not punished, then the order of our society will be disrupted,” wrote Liu Liu, a well-known Chinese writer, on her Sina Weibo. The comment has garnered 10,000 likes as of press time.

In response to the outpouring, the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said on Nov. 2 that they would reexamine the woman’s qualifications. An official from the bureau told Beijing News on Nov. 3 that applicants for Shanghai hukou cannot have a criminal record.

“It’s possible that the teacher has no criminal record, as her conflict with the doctor may not have been filed by the police due to the minor nature of the incident,” explained Dong Xiaojing, a Beijing-based lawyer. Dong added that the government should grant Miu a Shanghai hukou if she is eligible according to local policies.

Lu Jiehua, a professor of population studies at Beijing University, suggested that the hukou application system should take candidates' morality into consideration, while punishments should be handed down to dishonest and violent applicants.

Under China’s current population policies, a Shanghai hukou greatly benefits its holder in the realms of social welfare and job opportunities, which are otherwise extremely hard to obtain.