Higher pay for mountain top teachers

It was apparently a case of "absence from duty" - 23 teachers from a high school in Chongqing suspended classes for three days early this month to take a trip to Hainan, a subtropical tourist attraction.

After media reported the event last week, however, the audience - mostly netizens - refrained from panning the teachers as they normally would public servants touring courtesy of the public purse.

Instead, they expressed sympathy for the teachers from the Gaoxie Middle School of Dushi, the most remote rural township in mountainous Jiangjin county of Chongqing municipality. Some even said they were "moved to tears" by the report.