Five students have been put in administrative detention and fined, after a video of them bullying a schoolmate went viral on the Internet. [File photo/jlonline.com]

Five students have been put in administrative detention and fined, after a video of them bullying a schoolmate went viral on the Internet.

In the video, the victim was standing in a toilet, while the bullies forced him to touch excrement. School uniforms worn by the students indicated that the incident happened in a school in Beijing’s Yanqing District.

Police with the Yanqing District Branch of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said Monday that the video was taken on Thursday. The seven students involved in the case also extorted more than 100 yuan (15 U.S. dollars) from the victim and physically abused him.

Of the seven bullies, two were exempted from punishment because they are under the age of 14, although their guardians were told to be stricter with them, police said.

Education authorities in Yanqing District placed two of the students under surveillance, while gave demerits on the records of four. Another bully was given a warning. The parents of the seven students were summoned for talks.

There have been frequent media reports on bullying in China’s schools recent years.

In December 2016, a Beijing mother’s article describing her 10-year-old son’s treatment at school, went viral. After having a toilet waste-paper basket thrown on his head and being mocked by other classmates, the fourth-grade boy was diagnosed with an acute stress disorder, a mental illness characterized by severe anxiety.

In April 2016, another video went viral showing a schoolgirl being slapped more than 30 times by a group of older girls. Police detained a number of the perpetrators.

Continuous torrential rain since Thursday in parts of Anhui, Hunan, Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces affected at least 3.5 million people.

In eastern and southern Hunan, the rainstorms brought over 150 mm of rainfall in some areas in just one day, destroying more than 2,100 houses and forcing the evacuation of 163,000 people. Nearly 120 hectares of crops were damaged.

Heavy rain is forecast to continue in Hunan in the next five days.

In Guizhou, rain caused nine fatalities and left four missing. More than 57,000 people were evacuated, 12,000 houses were destroyed and 560 hectares of crops were damaged. The disaster also caused 1.3 billion yuan (about 190 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses.

The local civil affairs department is sending relief goods to affected areas.

In Anhui, heavy rain brought at least one fatality. More than 700 houses were destroyed and 25.8 hectares of crops were damaged.

In Zhejiang, the downpour forced the evacuation of about 150,000 people, caused direct economic losses estimated at one billion yuan. Over 40 reservoirs overflowed.

Chinese ocean scientific research vessel Haiyang-6 set out Monday on a 240-day expedition in the Pacific Ocean, with five foreign trainees on board.

The five young scientists from Burkina Faso, the Cook Islands, Ghana, Mexico and Papua New Guinea will work together with Chinese scientists and be trained on the job, said He Gaowen, chief scientist of the expedition.

The vessel departed from China’s southern province of Guangdong, heading for the Western Pacific to conduct deep-sea geological surveys for climate change, biological and environmental research.

The surveys will help China in international efforts to utilize seabed resources and test the latest deep-sea technology.

The vessel has on board a remote-control underwater vehicle “Haima,” (sea horse) to sample cobalt-rich seabed crusts and other materials.

Beijing’s energy efficiency ranks first across China and the city has made significant achievement in reducing air pollution.

The Chinese capital’s energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP stood at 0.338 ton of coal equivalent in 2015, a reduction of 19.5 percent from 2011 and an annual reduction of 5.3 percent in four years.

According to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the total energy consumption reached 68.526 million tons of coal equivalent in 2015, registering an annual increase of 1.7 percent from 2011. This is 3 percentage points lower than that of the “11th Five-Year Plan period” (2006-2010).

The sharp reduction of industrial energy consumption plays a main role in slashing energy consumption in the entire city. As Beijing keeps shedding its non-capital functions, high energy-consuming industries and manufacturing enterprises have been relocated or closed down. Meanwhile, as Beijing prevents a list of industries from being newly launched, industries that are involved in the list reduce their production, and hence the reduction of their energy consumption.

Additionally, as Beijing implements the “Clean Air Action Plan,” major coal-fired power plants have changed their energy source from coal to gas. The city’s industrial enterprises see their energy consumption decrease by 3.2 percent annually, taking 1.2 percentage points off the city’s annual energy consumption.

President Xi Jinping called on compatriots in Hong Kong on Monday to join hands with the whole nation to “grasp the opportunities of the country’s development” and further implement the one country, two systems principle.

Xi commented while visiting an exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing on achievements since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Concerted efforts are expected in exploration and innovation, with the goal being to maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and to ensure a better future there, he said.

Multimedia presentations at the museum featured memorable moments in Hong Kong, including its return, and its reinforced role as an international financial center and rising star in the building of the Belt and Road.

Speaking of the past 20 years, Xi said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with the strong support of the central government and the mainland, has witnessed comprehensive development in a variety of fields and has made achievements recognized by the world.

The great vitality of one country, two systems has been demonstrated, Xi added.

Experience during the two decades has proved that one country, two systems is not only the best solution to the Hong Kong issue, but also the best institutional arrangement for long-term prosperity and stability after the return of Hong Kong, Xi said.

The nation should further implement one country, two systems in an unswerving, all-out and accurate manner, and act in strict accordance with the country’s Constitution and the Basic Law of the HKSAR to better promote Hong Kong’s development, Xi said.

From Thursday to Sunday, Xi will be in Hong Kong to attend a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return.

During his stay in Hong Kong, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will also witness the inauguration of the fifth administration of the HKSAR.

As he toured the exhibition on Monday, he shook hands with both Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chief executive of HKSAR, and Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the incoming chief executive.

Other Chinese leaders including Premier Li Keqiang also toured the exhibition on Monday.