First lesson takes place in a real courtroom

As the new semester began this week, freshmen at a college in Dengfeng, Henan province, got their first lesson - a public trial in a telecommunications fraud case.

Their attendance was arranged to help them avoid being cheated by fraudsters, while alerting them not to become one of the crooks, according to the Physical Education College of Zhengzhou University.

Eighteen defendants stood in front of the court on Sunday, 12 of whom were college students or just graduated, according to Wang Tianchao, chief judge of the Dengfeng People's Court.