MCLC: gaokao version of "my dad is Li Gang"

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: gaokao version of "my dad is Li Gang"
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Source: China Real Time blog, WSJ (6/13/14):
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/06/13/echoes-of-my-dad-is-li-gang-i
n-gaokao-controversy/

Four years ago, the son of a senior police officer in China coined a
catchphrase for spoiled bratdom when he fled the scene of a fatal car
crash, shouting, “My dad is Li Gang!” The implication being, you wouldn’t
dare prosecute me.
Now, echoes of the same incident have resurfaced over the case
<http://www.chinanews.com/fz/2014/06-10/6265245.shtml> of a male student
who was caught cheating on the gaokao, the country’s college entrance exam
and when caught, yelled, “Do you know who my father is? How dare you pick
on me?”

According to the state-run China News, over the weekend, the student—who
had driven a BMW to test site in Liaoning province—was caught by an
official when he tried to cheat by looking at his phone. Once exposed, the
student kicked the official and continued with his assault until security
guards came and took him away. All the while, reports said, he was yelling
about his father and how untouchable he is.

Who is his father, exactly? More than 460,000 Weibo users this week were
asking the question after the news surfaced on Wednesday, sparking outrage.

So far, his identity hasn’t publicly surfaced. No matter who he is, one
verified user 
<http://weibo.com/p/1005055108249093/weibo?from=page_100505_home&wvr=5.1&mo
d=weibomore#3720682993236690> wrote, if precedent is any guide, his fate
won’t be good. “His father is going to be destroyed by his actions,” he
wrote, “The father named Li Gang was detained and interrogated; that
father named Li Shuangjiang was so upset by his son that he ended up in
the hospital—your anonymous father’s business will probably shut down
soon,” the user wrote, referring to a Chinese general whose son was
sentenced to 10 years in prison for gang rape.

On Friday, one Internet user even uploaded a song he’d composed titled
“BMW Gaokao Student.” “It’s the time to compete over how rich our dads
are. Spoiled wealthy kids, spoiled wealthy kids, my father will get me out
of any trouble,” the lyrics ran.

“It’s a gaokao version of ‘My father is Li Gang,’” the state-run Guangming
Daily wrote 
<http://weibo.com/p/1002061752825395/weibo?is_search=0&visible=0&is_tag=0&p
rofile_ftype=1&page=2#1402660829200> on its Weibo account.

On Friday, Internet users continued to speculate over the identity of the
boy’s father, with even the state-run broadcaster CCTV expressing its
desire to find out the truth. “We really want to know who your father is,”
the broadcaster wrote on its verified Weibo
<http://weibo.com/p/1002062210168325/weibo#3720597697645944> account.

–Dantong Ma