Six Chinese students go on trial in US for abusing two females

Yang Yuhan, one of the six defendants, stands trial in Los Angeles. [Photo/people.cn]

Six Chinese students went on trial in Los Angeles recently for allegedly abducting and torturing two female students, while four accomplices are still at large. Three of the suspects are minors.

The main suspects - Zhai Yunyao and her boyfriend Zhang Xinlei - reportedly abducted the two victims whom Zhai believed had cheated on her friend on March 30, 2015. Yunyao and Xinlei held the girls in their house for five hours, beat and slapped them and cut their hair.

The two girls, who are also Chinese, called the Rowland Heights police in Los Angeles on the night of the incident and they were discovered with serious injuries. The court has set a record-high bail of $3 million for each of the accused.

The case comes close on the heels of a scandal in which one of the defendant's parents is under arrest after being accused of bribing a witness.

The defendants' conduct has triggered concern in the Chinese community.

"The cruelty reflected in their deeds is astonishing," said Yi Bing, a media critic in the Bay Area. "I can't help but wonder what kind of education they received from their family and school."

The Institute of International Education said in its 2014 report that Chinese students account for a growing percentage of international students across US universities and colleges. After seven years of double-digit growth, China has remained the top source of foreign students in the US for the fifth consecutive year, according to an April report in China Daily.

As the world's second-largest economy, China has produced many affluent middle-class families in the last two decades who can afford to send their children to study abroad. Many of the children can get into trouble being so far from home and out from the watchful eyes their parents.