Schoolboy caning in Taiwan

Taiwan - High-school caning

This one-minute film was taken on 30 December 2015 at a high school in Tainan City.

    Four boys aged perhaps 16, members of the school swimming team, receive a sound caning from the sports teacher and swimming coach for repeatedly oversleeping and missing practice, according to local media (ET Today and Apple Daily, both 1 January 2016).

    The punishment takes place on the steps up to the entrance of one of the buildings. It has been filmed at some distance, from an upstairs window of an adjacent block. The version below has been zoomed to enlarge the relevant part of the scene.

    Each student comes forward in turn to bend over the steps and receives 8 to 10 swift, vigorous strokes accurately targeted across the backside. It is hard to see the implement in any detail but the sound, clearly heard even over some distance, could be that of a proper rattan cane, in which case this is quite a severe punishment.

    The first recipient gets up in pain after four whacks and is told to get back down. Each boy after punishment is evidently in pain. The second boy in particular can be seen rubbing and clutching his buttocks, and trying to shake the pain way with his legs, throughout the caning of the third and fourth boys.

    The local media reports appear to be saying that an official investigation was to be held, school CP being now theoretically illegal in Taiwan. However, at least two of the punished students spoke up in support of the teacher/coach because he had not given up on them, and it was their own fault for oversleeping. It remains unclear why the teacher chose to discipline the boys in such a public place; had he done it in private, presumably there would have been no media fuss.

HERE IS THE CLIP: