Photo: Xinhua

 

A Chinese schoolmaster kissed a piglet before his pupils just to keep his promise. But it arouses debate whether he did this to earn fame or set an example of never breaking one's word.

Hong Yaoming, deputy head of Xianning Experimental Primary School in the central Hubei province, kissed a 20-kg pig with his left hand pressing its opening mouth, as his colleague led the tied animal whose forelimbs were off the ground.

Hong made the promise in March in order to persuade students to abandon their habit of dropping litter everywhere. Students really discarded their litter-dropping habit after one month.

"I had planned to use stationery awards as stimulus, but I think this would not arouse their enthusiasm to the most. It suddenly occurred to me to use this method," said Hong.

He said he knew about a similar case in the United States, in which a primary school teacher promised to kiss a pig if his pupils had good performance in maths exams.

"We just use an easy way to carry out serious moral education," Hong said.

Hong's story become a hot topic in the Internet. Some netizens expressed acclaims for his deed and dubbed him the "Good Schoolmaster of China", as he set an example of being honest and keeping one's word.

"How can one do this before several thousand people? It is unimaginable," said a girl student in the school, adding she was surprised with the act, but admired his courage very much.

"I think the schoolmaster is trustable. And I will pay more attention to our environment and make our school more beautiful," said another pupil.

But there are some disagreements.

"Why not make other kinds of promises? He can teach students in other better ways. Kissing a piglet is too antic for a schoolmaster," said Luo Jiaojiang, a sociology professor at Wuhan University.