‘Children are not accessories’: mother in China steals daughter’s drama school offer letter to force her to work in hometown, sparking online anger

The story of a mother in China who stole her daughter’s admission documents for a prestigious drama university to prevent her from enrolling has trended on mainland social media.

The Southern Weekly reported that on August 21 the unidentified mother from the Chongqing municipality of Sichuan province in southwestern China stole the offer of admission and supporting documents 11 days before her daughter, nicknamed Jiajia, enrolled at The Central Academy of Drama in Beijing.

The mother, who is nearly 50 years old and has not worked since Jiajia was in secondary school, had expected her 17-year-old daughter to become a teacher in their hometown and continue living there for the rest of her life.

After coming home from a swimming class on August 14 Jiajia noticed her mother was not at home and felt something was wrong.

She went to her bedroom to check her school bag where her identification papers and other important documents she needed for her university application were kept.

Jiajia was shocked to discover that the documents and other items, including her admission letter, ID card, bank card for the tuition fee, MacBook computer, iPad and spare mobile phone, were all gone.

Then she noticed a pen and a note on the living room table.

“I’m sorry!” the note read.

Jiajia knew her mother expected her to become a teacher and instantly realised what had happened.

“My mother doesn’t want me to study drama at university. She hopes that I can become a teacher and stay at home all my life,” Jiajia said.

She said she did not want to be a teacher and had worked hard to become a screenwriter and live in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. She said another factor in her decision to leave was to escape her demanding mother.

Jiajia recalled that on the last day of filling out her university applications in June, her mother had broken into her bedroom and tried to force her to choose local universities. At the time, Jiajia did as her mother demanded, and this calmed her mother.

To get around her domineering mother, she came up with a plan.

After her mother thought the applications were completed, Jiajia sneaked out of the house and went to an internet cafe to modify them.

A month later, in July, Jiajia was thrilled when she was accepted into the drama university course. Not trusting her mother, she hid the letter of admission. However, her mother found it.

After her mother stole her offer letter and other documents she reached out to the university and, with the help of the admissions office, successfully paid the tuition fee to secure her enrollment.

Jiajia said she had forgiven her mother.

The story has struck a nerve on mainland social media after being reported by local news outlets.

One online observer said: “Children are not accessories, don’t try to control them forever.”

Another person wrote: “Oh God, the mother is so selfish.”

Harsh parenting involving education often causes widespread discussion online in China.

Last month, a father from eastern China sat shirtless with a cigarette in his mouth and used “guilt-inflicting” psychology to force his child to study harder, causing widespread anger.

In 2021, a single mother in eastern China outraged public opinion when she beat her 12-year-old daughter repeatedly for not doing well enough in school.