How did Henan Wushu Competition ＂wholesale＂ the national second-class athletes？
Editor’s note:
In a (provincial) Wushu competition attended by middle school students, 800 people participated, and nearly 400 people were eligible to apply for national second-class athletes. What a paradoxical game will this be?
The outside world questioned that "there must be something fishy", but the official insisted that "there is no fraud" and said that "(our) martial arts foundation is good."
Is there more "martial arts masters" in Henan middle schools, or is there something fishy? As long as the "lid" of the game is lifted, you can see it clearly.
In Xinxiang No.1 Middle School, 67 candidates got extra points for sports this year, 64 of whom were "martial arts masters" and were questioned for fraud. 澎湃 trainee reporter Duan Yanchao
The list of "Henan Province 2013 Youth Traditional Wushu Championship", which was accused of fraud and "wholesale" national second-class athletes. 澎湃 trainee reporter Duan Yanchao
Recently, the national second-class athletes’ sports extra points in the college entrance examination in Benxi City, Liaoning Province, were temporarily calmed down by 270 candidates in the province giving up their extra points. The "myth" that 74 candidates from Luohe High School in Henan Province got extra points in sports, accounting for 10% of the province, is still fermenting.
The Henan Provincial Sports Bureau insists that the extra points are in line with the procedures and there is no violation of regulations.
Oddly enough, a survey in The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) found that a total of 738 candidates in Henan won extra points in sports this year, and hundreds of them won the prize in the same competition "Henan Youth Traditional Wushu Championship 2013" and became second-class athletes, enjoying extra points.
Earlier, Henan Wushu Sports Management Center told Xinhua that 800 athletes participated in the competition, resulting in nearly 400 second-class athletes. Some netizens questioned the "wholesale" second-level athletes.
Why does this strange phenomenon occur? According to the investigation in The Paper, there is something fishy about the project setting and rules of the competition.
Relax the age of contestants.
At noon on July 2, the gate of the old campus of Luohe High School was closed. The red banner of "Warmly congratulate Qi Huarui on winning the top prize of liberal arts in Henan College Entrance Examination in 2014 with a score of 665" stands out in the sultry air.
Luohe High School, founded in 1948, has a history of 66 years.
"(Qi Huarui) is unprecedented, and it is the first provincial champion in history." A retired old teacher of the school smacked his mouth and said. In line with the turmoil that Huarui was also involved in the school’s sports bonus points, the old teacher’s face sank and he stopped talking.
According to Henan Admissions Examination Information Network, a total of 738 candidates in this province got extra points for sports this year.
The Paper inquired about the athletes’ grades one by one through the inquiry system of the State Sports General Administration. According to rough statistics, there are about 200 candidates in the five cities of Luohe, Xinxiang, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng and Luoyang, all of whom won the prize in the "Henan Youth Traditional Wushu Championship in 2013" and became second-class athletes, enjoying extra points.
According to public information, the organizer of the competition is Henan Sports Bureau, which is hosted by Henan Wushu Sports Management Center and Henan Institute of Science and Technology (note: located in Xinxiang), and the co-organizers are Xinxiang Wushu Association and Xinxiang No.1 Middle School. In previous years, the same competitions were held in Henan province.
Why can a martial arts competition produce so many extra candidates?
The competition rules issued by official website of Henan Wushu Association on May 30, 2013 show that the competition was held in Xinxiang City in July of that year, "adopting the Rules of Traditional Wushu Routine Competition (hereinafter referred to as" Rules ") approved by the Wushu Sports Management Center of the State Sports General Administration and the Chinese Wushu Association in August 2012".
According to the Rules, the nature of competitions can be divided into adult competitions, youth competitions and children’s competitions according to age. In the competition age group, the juvenile group is 12-17 years old and the youth group is 18-39 years old.
According to the competition regulations, the contestants were born after January 1, 1992 and before December 31, 1996, that is, they were between 16 years and 6 months and 21 years and 6 months when they participated in the competition.
This is neither in line with the youth group defined by the Rules nor with the juvenile group. Just before the competition, the lower age limit of the contestants was relaxed again.
On June 17, 2013, Henan Wushu Sports Management Center issued a supplementary notice: "In order to provide more opportunities for senior high school graduates to participate in the competition, the lower age limit for competition in Group A is relaxed to be born before December 31, 1997 with the approval of higher authorities (Editor’s note: the minimum age is 15 years and 6 months)".
The notice also specifically stated that it was "limited to fresh graduates in 2014".
Liu Zhe (not his real name), a teacher in a physical education institute of a university in Henan Province, said that students are studying early now, and some students in Grade Two and Grade Three are only fifteen or six years old, while the extra points for second-class athletes in the college entrance examination are only applicable to fresh graduates. It can be seen that the age limit for contestants is targeted.
Ingenious rules to increase awards: 800 participants, 980 awards.
On July 6th, the competition order book and prize-winning roster provided by Xinxiang Sports Bureau showed that 64 teams and 800 athletes participated in the competition, divided into 200 groups, and finally 980 prizes were awarded.
Most teams won a little more prizes than the athletes.
Why is this strange phenomenon?
According to the investigation in The Paper, it is mainly due to two provisions in the competition regulations. One: Each athlete must choose one boxing and one instrument in the same series at the same time (editor’s note: such as string punching knife and string punching), and those who report only one item will not be arranged. Two: More than 10 athletes in each group will be admitted to the top six, 8-10 will be admitted to the top five, 5-7 will be admitted to the top four, and less than 4 (including 4) will be admitted by subtracting one from the actual number of participants …
The list of winners shows that most groups have less than 10 people, and there are many 6 people or less. The Paper noticed that in many groups, except for the top three, the scores of the others were all zero, so "no points will be given", but this did not prevent them from winning prizes.
For example, six athletes from Xinxiang Wushu Association team all signed up for the women’s Taiping Boxing Group and Taiping Knife Beating Group. In Taiping Boxing Group, three athletes won the top three, while in Taiping Knife Beating Group, three other athletes won the top three, and all six won prizes. A similar situation is quite common.
Earlier, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency, the Henan Wushu Sports Management Center introduced that the top three players in each group can apply for second-class athletes. In the end, nearly 400 people in the whole competition were qualified to apply for second-class athletes.
In order to verify this figure, The Paper expressed his hope to take away the prize-winning roster and examine it carefully. Soon, the prize-winning roster was taken away by the staff of Xinxiang Sports Bureau and then stopped being interviewed.
According to public information, the competition was held in Xinxiang No.1 Middle School Gymnasium. A total of 5 teams from Xinxiang participated in the competition, including 5 teams from Team 1 to Team 5 of Xinxiang Wushu Association and 120 athletes. Among them, 64 students from Xinxiang No.1 Middle School and its branch schools got extra points for participating in the competition (editor’s note: 67 candidates from this school got extra points for physical education), and 22 students from the middle school attached to Henan Normal University got extra points for participating in the competition (editor’s note: 25 candidates from this school got extra points for physical education).
Many graduates of Xinxiang No.1 Middle School in 2014 said that only students with excellent grades are eligible to declare because of the limited number of extra points for practicing martial arts, including the best "Yanqing Class" in the third year of high school.
There are about 50 students in this "Yanqing class", which is the top 50 in our school and branch schools.
"Some students in the other two key science classes can choose to report, and only the top three in other classes are eligible to report." Student Zhu Lili (a pseudonym) said that she was not qualified. She heard that the registration fee was more than 10,000 yuan.
"They practice for about half an hour every day between classes or breaks from the second semester of high school. After less than half a year of practice, they will participate in the competition, and then they will not practice." Zhu Lili thinks it’s cost-effective to buy 10 cents for more than 10,000 yuan, because it can leave a large number of opponents behind. "This bonus is unfair to us and should be cleaned up."
Official website of Xinxiang No.1 Middle School showed that the school was in the top 15 in the college entrance examination this year, and 10 of them enjoyed extra points in sports, all of which were "martial arts". The Paper found that students from Luohe High School and the High School Attached to Henan Normal University who got extra points in this competition ranked the top in the college entrance examination.
"Tailored" entries
In the local forum in Xinxiang, there is a net post entitled "Yan Zhiguo, Chairman of Xinxiang Wushu Association, deceives his superiors and deceives his subordinates to falsely report the story of making a fortune in traditional Wushu projects".
According to the net post, in the 2013 Youth Traditional Wushu Championship in Henan Province, more than 100 athletes organized by Xinxiang Wushu Association reported that the events such as "stopping hand hammer boxing" and "Hei Hu Tongbei boxing (actually Hei Hu Tongbi boxing)" were very ingenious. "These kinds of boxing have never been heard of, and so many kinds of boxing have come out overnight."
According to the net post, all these events were attended by athletes from five teams of Xinxiang Wushu Association.In the boxing and equipment competitions, six athletes participated in the competition, and all of them finally got the second-class athlete certificate.
The poster also said that Yan Zhiguo took this opportunity to reach an agreement with the parents of the students in Xinxiang No.1 Middle School, Henan Normal University High School and surrounding colleges, and each student was charged an activity fee ranging from 13,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan to ensure that they passed the martial arts competition and obtained the second-class athlete certificate and added points. "The success rate is very high."
The Paper combed and found that 64 candidates from Xinxiang No.1 Middle School and its branch schools who got extra points through the competition participated in various events, such as "string punching knife", "string punching fist", "Hei Hu Tongbi knife", "Hei Hu Tongbi fist", "Kunlun knife", "Kunlun fist", "stop punching knife" and "stop punching fist".
Almost all the competitions in these groups are attended by athletes from Xinxiang Wushu Association.
On the phone, Yan Zhiguo told The Paper that the net post was not true. It said that the selection, grouping and referee selection of competition events were all decided by Henan Provincial Sports Bureau and Henan Wushu Sports Management Center. Xinxiang Wushu Association, as the Wushu Association where the event was held, only did some logistics work, such as arranging hotels.
Yan Zhiguo said that there are many schools of martial arts, and it is not possible to exclude a certain school from the competition just because the number of practitioners is small. Moreover, the selection procedure for the events of the 2013 Youth Traditional Wushu Championship in Henan Province is that the contestants first fill in the specific events of Wushu routines, and then stamp them at the local municipal sports bureau, and then send them to the Henan Provincial Sports Bureau, which will determine them according to factors such as the number of participants in each declared event, and the number will not be offered until the minimum number of applicants for the start of the competition.
The Paper reporter called the propagandist of Henan Provincial Sports Bureau, who said he was in a meeting first, but didn’t answer the phone. Earlier, the Henan Wushu Sports Management Center told Xinhua that the extra points were in line with the procedures and there were no irregularities.
Yan Zhiguo said that he, his family and Xinxiang Wushu Association have never received money directly from students or their parents, and have never reached an oral or written agreement with anyone to help them obtain the second-class athlete certificate. "Even if students have paid money for the competition, it is also a normal fee such as training fee paid to the school."
In this regard, Li Zhong, assistant principal of Xinxiang No.1 Middle School, said that he did not understand the charges.
The Paper noted that the competition order book showed that the director of the Organizing Committee was a deputy director of the Henan Provincial Sports Bureau, one of whom was a deputy mayor of Xinxiang City, and Yan Zhiguo was one of the two team leaders of the competition section.
The staff of Xinxiang Sports Bureau Office said that they set up an investigation team for the relevant reports, but Xinxiang No.1 Middle School, Henan Normal University High School and other units did not cooperate and could not see the relevant person in charge.
"We also have doubts." The staff member said that because the investigation has not yet ended, it cannot be qualitative.
Without clear technical indicators, Wushu has become a new "water injection point" for college entrance examination sports.
Liu Zhe told The Paper that the sports department often used the promotion of traditional martial arts as an excuse, but the fact is that few students would practice martial arts unless they scored extra points for the college entrance examination.
Liu Zhe believes that behind the "wholesale" of second-class athletes in individual Wushu competitions, the school needs candidates to sprint famous schools and the long-established interest chain. This impact is the fairness of the college entrance examination.
This year, it should have been the "reform year" for China to comprehensively standardize the college entrance examination.
In November 2010, the Ministry of Education, the State Sports General Administration and other departments jointly issued the "Notice on Adjusting Some College Entrance Examination Plus Items and Further Strengthening Management" to "slim down" the college entrance examination plus items. Among them, there are up to 10 sports bonus items, which are composed of 8 nationally recognized items (note: track and field, basketball, football, volleyball, table tennis, martial arts, swimming and badminton with high popularity and good exercise effect) and two optional items of provinces (cities).
However, the adjustment policy "applies to students who entered the first year of senior high school in the autumn of 2011", which means the fresh graduates in 2014.
This year, the sports bonus items in the college entrance examination in Henan Province have been reduced to eight nationally recognized items, compared with 27 in 2010 as reported by China Youth Daily and 30 in 2013 as reported by Henan Business Daily. However, according to online data, in 2010, there were 860 candidates who got extra points in college entrance examination in Henan Province, 864 in 2013 and 738 this year.
It can be seen that the sports bonus project has been "greatly slimmed down", and the number of candidates who have won sports bonus points has not decreased correspondingly.
In fact, after the announcement of the "reform" of the college entrance examination in 2010, there were voices questioning that there were two optional items in the "8+2" program, which should be more enjoyable. But even if you choose "8+0", there is still room for cutting, because martial arts events are difficult to judge. It’s not like running and high jumping, the results are clearly there. Although Wushu is the quintessence of the country and worth promoting, there is no clear technical index to judge it in the context of adding points to the college entrance examination. "Who can guarantee that it will not become a new’ water injection hole’?"
I didn’t think about it, and I became a prophecy.