LI SHIGONG

When the Wenchuan earthquake jolted China's southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12, 35-year-old Chinese language teacher, Fan Meizhong, was giving a lecture at Yaguang Middle School in Dujiangyan City. The mild initial tremors soon grew to major rumblings and the school buildings began to shake. In a state of panic, Fan dashed out of the classroom and fled to safer flat ground nearby, leaving dozens of his students behind. He later explained his actions in his blog, saying that in a life-threatening situation he would always consider his own safety first.

"I am not a man to make sacrifices. At the moment of life and death, I will even consider abandoning my mother in my quest for survival since an adult is too heavy for me to carry. Life is the most valuable thing, and it makes no sense for two people to die. You are already teenagers and can take care of yourselves," said Fan, recounting a conversation with his students after the quake.

Fan's words have incurred the anger of most netizens.

In later blog posts, Fan argued that he could not risk his life to save others. "It is a voluntary choice to make sacrifices, not a virtue. I have no obligations to save them [the students]," he wrote.

These unconventional comments go against common ethics, while at the same time raise the question: Do teachers have an obligation to save students at the risk of their own lives?