A Beijing resident extended an invitation to a non-local resident to have a physical fight at Chaoyang Park Sunday, after a war of words erupted between them on Sina Weibo over the city's education policy.
While neither of the Web users apparently showed up, the Beijinger, Xiao Bona, has posted numerous comments complaining that there are too many non-locals in the capital and they are using up all the city's resources.
His posts come after a group of around 30 non-local parents clashed with another group of Beijingers outside the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education Thursday. The parents, who have protested at the commission several times this year, are seeking confirmation of when students who do not have a Beijing hukou (household registration), will be able to sit their college entrance examinations, or gaokao, in the city.
Around 30 local residents staged a counter protest, claiming there should be limits on how many non-local students should be allowed to sit the exam in the capital. The local Beijingers cursed the non-local protesters during the four-hour protest, alleged one of the parents, Du Dewang, although there was no violence.
Currently, students who do not have a local hukou must return to their "hometown" to sit the gaokao, even if they have never lived there, and have been entirely educated in Beijing.
In March, Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said the ministry would launch a policy concerning non-local gaokao takers and would request local commissions to implement the detail, the Beijing Times reported in May.
But Du who came to the commission, said that a specific date for implementation of the new policy has not been given.
"Since the policy was already announced by the ministry, we expect it to be implemented by the Beijing education bureau as soon as possible," he said.
