To spank or not to spank? Any discussion about corporal punishment is sure to provoke heated debate. China has a complicated relationship with the issue. The Ministry of Education is proposing that schools crack down on teachers who violate, or try to skirt around, the nationwide ban on corporal punishment after a student in Shanxi Province was beaten by a teacher for not bringing an I.D. card to school.

Violence towards children is thought to be common in the country. Now Shenzhen has seen a corporal punishment scandal of its own.

A kindergarten teacher surnamed Liu has been accused of attacking three female students with scissors, causing minor injuries, according to local television. During afternoon nap time, Liu allegedly warned a student named Liang Zhi to stop talking. According to Liang, the teacher waved a pair of yellow-handled scissors while making the threat, and when Liang didn’t stop, she slashed the girl’s ankle.

On the evening of June 28, Liang’s mother, Su, was giving her a bath when she noticed a cut about 3-4 centimeters deep in the child’s ankle, she told local media. Su asked her daughter what had happened, and whether she had been naughty. The child explained what had happened, and now Su is demanding an explanation from Qingshuihe Kindergarten in the city’s Luohu District. The other two girls are said to have sustained wrist injuries.

An emotional Su added that she understood the need to discipline children. But insisted that a teacher’s punishment should be no more severe than a slap to the butt.

The head teacher of the kindergarten claimed that Liu had been using the scissors to do handicrafts. Liang was tossing and turning and had shaken off the blanket, the teacher moved to put the blanket back over her and accidentally cut her with the scissors. Liang did not scream, so the head teacher did not hear anything. The first she heard of the incident was when Su came to the kindergarten to complain. Liu resigned the day after the incident.

Although Liang claimed that two other students were injured, no other parents have come forward and complained.

Who do you believe?