Reports: Fujian Students Protest Holiday Study Schedule

Students at Xiapu No. 1 High School in Ningde, Fujian, staged several days of collective protests over evening study sessions scheduled before the Mid-Autumn Festival, according to two reports published by New Tang Dynasty Television.

The reports said students shouted from school buildings, sang and marched between September 22 and 24. Their accounts rely heavily on unnamed students and footage whose time, location and participants were not independently authenticated. The reports included no public response from the school or the local education authorities, leaving key details of the Fujian student protest unconfirmed.

Students called for time at home

Students were recorded chanting “go home” and “no evening study during Mid-Autumn,” the first report said. An unnamed senior student told the outlet that evening study for that student’s grade usually continued until 10 p.m. That account does not establish whether every grade or class followed the same timetable.

The disagreement centered on whether the school would continue evening sessions immediately before the holiday. The available material does not specify the full holiday schedule, how the timetable had been announced or whether students had previously raised the issue through other channels.

Reports describe three days of escalating action

An unnamed student described September 22 to 24 as the peak of the action. According to that account, a student called the principal on the afternoon of September 24 to question why evening study had not been canceled before the holiday.

The outlet alleged that school administrators cut off student remarks and warned that continued action could bring disciplinary consequences. It also said additional personnel were assigned to manage students that evening. No school statement or disciplinary document was included in the material, so those claims remain the outlet’s account rather than established facts.

The reports said the demand to cancel evening study had not been granted at that point and that a march later took place in a boys’ dormitory area. They did not establish the school’s final schedule after September 24.

Participation and the outcome remain uncertain

A follow-up article from the same outlet described participation as exceeding 1,000 students and said student representatives had negotiated with the school without securing a cancellation. Because both articles came from the same media organization and may draw on the same interviews and recordings, the second report does not provide independent confirmation of the estimate or the reported negotiations.

The episode raises a narrow but consequential question about how schools balance intensive academic schedules with students’ holiday time and rest. In this case, however, the number of participants, the administration’s response and the eventual timetable cannot be settled from the available reporting alone.