When Shanghai Fuxing High School decided to install cameras in their classrooms, students were told that they would be used to monitor pupils during exam time. However, aside from monitoring exams, it appears that the school decided to put them to use in other areas as well. It is claimed that the cameras were also used to monitor students during and after class time.
Perhaps this does not seem like a particularly important issue, and perhaps it would have gone unchallenged if not for the occurrence of one particular event. Two Shanghai Fuxing High School students, Wei Gang and his girlfriend, were filmed during some private moments they shared together in the classroom, including them kissing. The problem arose when the school decided that broadcasting the tapes would be a good means of 'educating' the students against such behavior. The result of this action by the school was that Wei and his girlfriend were ridiculed by their peers to the point where the two planned to commit suicide. Due to the student's depression both students failed to attain good marks in their college examination exams. Now Wei has enlisted the services of a lawyer to take this matter to court.
This matter raises the important issue of privacy in China. There is no clearly defined legal concept of an individual's right to privacy such as that which has gradually developed in many Western countries. This is in part due to the influence of a culture which places greater emphasis on the collective good, rather than the individual's interests. As a Westerner in such a hugely populated country it is inevitable that on occasion you can't help but feel a lack of privacy. As China's legal system evolves, to what extent the law will adopt a Western concept of privacy remains to be seen. However, this case raises many important issues that will undoubtedly gain further prominence as China continues on its path of development.
Let me leave you with a final thought on the matter. Is personal privacy a universal notion? Do the same rights to privacy apply to Chinese as they do to say, Americans? I believe this is a question that will be defined by the next generation who are being raised in an increasingly prosperous and individualistic China.
