9th Grader Suicide on Textbook Fees

A middle school student in Chongqing killed herself, after she couldn't pay a CNY 250 ($40) textbook fee. The student is from a poor family. The school is the Shanghe Middle School in Chongqing.

The city of Chongqing, one of four municipals along Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, was reported to had spent CNY 270 billion ($45 billion) on a campaign to 'Sing Red Songs' in 3 years since Bo Xilai was named the Party Boss. People in Chongqing sing red songs in over 104,000 dedicated events, totaling 80 million headcounts. Everyone must participate, and they sing the red songs (revolutionary fighting songs) to other places, including tours in top theaters in Beijing. As Beijing is the official capital city of the country, Chongqing is often referred to as the 'Red Capital' due to its red song singing campaign.

If only some of the money could be used towards middle school textbook.