Freshmen from Nanjing Normal University, Jiangsu Province participate in mandatory military training exercises in September 2009. Photo: CFP

Hu Dajun, the principal of Huangcang High School in Longshan, Hunan Province never imagined that the school's routine military training session, which takes place every year, could turn into an ugly group fight and eventually light up a nationwide debate over whether military training should be abolished once and for all.

Several military instructors got into an argument with a school teacher who thought his students were being treated unfairly. Young students thought their teacher was being bullied and joined the conflict, which helped turn the whole thing into an all-out fight.

A total of 42 people were injured. The students weren't happy about how the incident was dealt with and took to the street for a protest.

In a country of 1.3 billion people, a skirmish like this would usually be buried under a gigantic flow of information but instead it triggered painful memories for many. Even the Ministry of National Defense has said it will properly regulate training sessions. 

For the past 50 years, short sessions of military training have been mandatory for almost all middle school, high school and college students. The practice originated with the Military Service Law in 1955, and intensified as the country was mired in chaos during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), which often saw the military taking over local governments.

But that era is long gone. Young Chinese students are more exposed to Western culture nowadays.

The programs included in the military training sessions as well as the ideologies they represent of collectivism, obedience and selfless devotion, are continuously being challenged.

No rest

Jian Guangliang, a 23-year-old student from the Beijing Institute of Technology, says his impressions about his freshman military training were complicated.

It began with hour-long morning runs, followed by tedious practices that drilled students to stand and walk like a soldier. After that came the  juntiquan, or military martial arts. If the weather was nice, his military instructor would take the students out for a hike, circling a nearby hill for a couple of rounds.

"After the hike, everyone was pretty exhausted. All we wanted to do was to have dinner and go straight to bed. But we were far from done. Students were divided into teams and were taught to sing military songs. Whichever team sings the best can enter the cafeteria. The rest had to keep practicing," he told the Global Times.

Making beds is another challenge. Quilts must be folded to look just like rectangular blocks. Not a wrinkle is allowed to be found on bed sheets.

Facilities at the camp were less than modest. Students often had to wait in lines to take a cold shower. No cell phones, electronic devices or any other personal belongings were allowed. Throughout the 15-day training, they were asked to wear military uniforms and shoes.

The shoes were sometimes so uncomfortable that the students, males and females alike, would place sanitary pads into the shoes as insoles.

"Yes, it sounds disgusting but everybody does it. You have to admit that they are soft, absorbent and fit perfectly, just like how they were advertised," Jian said.

Compulsory practice

Middle school, high school and college students in China are required to receive military training at least once in their freshman year.

The idea stemmed from an instruction from Chairman Mao Zedong in 1964 when he urged Chinese people to look to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as an example. When relations between China and the Soviet Union further deteriorated in 1968-69, the idea was reinforced.

But it was not until in the late 1980s that military training became mandatory among high school, middle school and sometimes even primary school students.

"The training was meant to teach students the meaning of discipline. But the practices often show that their behaviors not only fail to improve but worsen due to the effects of reverse psychology [which makes them resist orders]," Sun Dongdong, a professor from Peking University, wrote to the Global Times.

The content of the training was also disputed.

Much time has been spent on drill formations, walking and standing postures as well as bed making, which are often labeled as programs divorced from reality.

"Much of the training is just formalism without significance. Some were designed so students can put out a good performance in front of authority. They have nothing to do with modern national defense education," Tong Zhiwei, a professor from the East China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.

Some families have also been complaining about the waste of money on the purchase of uniforms, which are forever buried inside closets once the training finished.

Different needs

For Du Qiang (pseudonym), an officer from the Chinese People's Armed Police who demanded anonymity, being a military instructor for young students is no easy task.

"Their thoughts are very active and do not like to follow orders. Many value free spirit rather than collectivism, personal achievement than selfless devotion and personal rights than discipline. It's a new generation," Du told the Global Times.

Other PLA officers have expressed similar feelings. "I think the one-child policy has something to do with the current situation," one officer said, adding that students' stamina has worsened over the years and many couldn't finish a 1,200-meter run.

Similar problems also occur among the new recruits. "People today have different needs. They don't feel as responsible to the country or to their group as 30 years ago. It does pose a challenge [to military education]," a different officer surnamed Zhang said.

No matter how disappointing some of the programs are, many still see military training as a necessity. "It is an important part of national defense education that students get to know the military and are encouraged to serve their country," Zhang said.

Others, like Sun from Peking University, believe that military training programs for students should be reformed and modernized.

For Jian, the young college student, in spite of the stern instructors and exhausting training, memories from the training weren't all that bad.

At nights young college students were sometimes ordered to sit around a fire and take turns putting on performances. This was the time when boys could secretly pass notes to girls asking "Be my girlfriend?"