When schools of high prestige stoop to lure

Catfights have been a staple on Chinese screens lately, but few anticipated the real-life scratching and slapping of the week to happen between two schools - China's top names in higher education, for that matter.

With college recruiting in high gear, both Peking University (Beida for short) and Tsinghua University have recruiters combing the nation for top scorers. In Sichuan province, they came head to head, denouncing each other online for scheming and other shady practices. Beida's micro blog accused "some school" of "calling each of the top 10 scorers who had applied for Beida" and otherwise "harassing Beida candidates". "We'll refrain from exerting pressure on parents, or using brothers and lovers to kidnap each other," it claimed.

Tsinghua, in its micro blog, countercharged that Beida had "harassed two to five Tsinghua applicants and promised them big money". "It's understandable that one would exaggerate its own merits to attract students, but to use financial reward as a bait - wouldn't that be giving kids a bad example?" it quipped.