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With the signing of a cooperative school-running agreement in Huanggang City, Hubei Province, by the organizer of Huanggang Jinghe School in Xixian New District, Shaanxi Province (hereinafter referred to as "Jinghe Huanggang") and Huanggang Middle School Education Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huanggang Education Group"), the controversy over whether Jinghe Huanggang is "Huanggang Middle School" seems to have subsided, and the two sides' previous tit-for-tat "manifestoes" have also been withdrawn.

However, after reviewing the incident, there are still many unsolved mysteries; in addition, the chaos in the output process of educational resources from prestigious universities exposed in the incident still deserves more attention and reflection.

Statement from Huanggang City Education Bureau (now deleted)

True or False "Huanggang"

Hubei Huanggang Middle School (hereinafter referred to as "Huanggang Middle School") was a unique school in the Chinese education field in the 1980s and 1990s. Various teaching supplementary books and test papers such as Huanggang Secret Books, Huanggang Secret Scrolls, and Huanggang Treasure Books were sold well across the country. As long as the word "Huanggang" was mentioned, it would attract many teachers, students, and parents to buy them.

Although the legend is gone, "Huanggang" is still a golden signboard. However, after the release of the college entrance examination results this year, there were discussions about the "high admission and low graduation" and poor education quality of the Jinghe Huanggang School. Finally, doubts also spread to Huanggang, Hubei, 700 kilometers away.

Huanggang Middle School had to issue a statement to protect its reputation.

On July 31, Huanggang Middle School stated that recently, there have been many negative news reports about Xixian New District Huanggang Jinghe School on the Internet, and many out-of-town students and parents have called Huanggang Middle School to ask whether the school is a branch of Huanggang Middle School. In response, our school solemnly declares as follows:

Jinghe Huanggang is not a branch of our school. Our school has no cooperation with Jinghe Huanggang in education, teaching, management, etc. The school has not sent any teachers to study, and our school has not sent any teachers to exchange. Our school hereby clarifies the facts to set the record straight. At the same time, our school reserves the right to further pursue its legal responsibilities.

Subsequently, the Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau also came out to clarify.

The Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau’s statement showed that “the actions of Jinghe Huanggang and its related schools and enterprises have no affiliation or equity relationship with Huanggang Middle School, which is under the jurisdiction of our bureau, nor do they have any authorization, investment or other cooperative relationship. Any actions of Jinghe Huanggang and its related schools and enterprises to conduct business in the name of Huanggang Middle School have nothing to do with the Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau and Huanggang Middle School.”

However, Jinghe Huanggang refuted the statements of Huanggang Middle School and Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau.

Jinghe Huanggang responded that our school is a full-time private school wholly owned by Shaanxi Hengrui Culture Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shaanxi Hengrui"). On May 18, 2017, Huanggang Education Valley Investment Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huanggang Education Valley") authorized Shaanxi Hengrui to jointly establish the "Huanggang Education" brand school in Xi'an, and authorized the use of the "Huanggang Education" or "Huanggang Famous Teachers" brand and its series of information for legal and compliant publicity and promotion for a period of 20 years.

Huanggang Education Valley is a joint venture established by a company commissioned by the Huanggang Municipal People's Government and Shenzhen ZTE Network Technology Co., Ltd. Huanggang Middle School authorized the company to use the Huanggang Middle School brand trademark.

Therefore, Jinghe Huanggang believes that the school’s right to use the “Huanggang” education brand has a clear source and clear facts.

Jinghe Huanggang (Picture from the school’s WeChat official account)

Behind Jinghe Huanggang is a big player in the bathroom industry

According to Jinghe Huanggang, it is reasonable and justified for the school name to contain "Huanggang", but a careful analysis shows that this "Huanggang" is very different from the "Huanggang" in the public's perception.

The "Huanggang" in the public's perception generally refers to Huanggang Middle School, while the "Huanggang" in Jinghe Huanggang refers to the brand "Huanggang Education". According to Jinghe Huanggang, although "Huanggang Education" is related to Huanggang Middle School, the twists and turns involved are too complicated and obscure.

Some public reports about Huanggang Education Valley mentioned that the company was jointly established by Shenzhen ZTE Network Information Technology Co., Ltd., Huanggang Education Investment Company, and Huanggang Middle School. However, this information mostly appeared in business cooperation activities attended by Huanggang Education Valley, and the reporter did not find any authoritative official information.

According to Tianyancha information, the current shareholders of Huanggang Education Valley are three legal entities: Shenzhen Huayu Education Investment Center (Limited Partnership), Shenzhen Huaxing Education Investment Center (Limited Partnership) and Huanggang Huanggao Comprehensive Service Center.

Among the above three legal entities, only Huanggang Huanggao Comprehensive Service Center is related to Huanggang Middle School. Tianyancha information shows that Huanggang Huanggao Comprehensive Service Center is a state-owned enterprise, mainly engaged in the wholesale and retail of daily necessities, shoes and hats, cultural and educational supplies, paper, ink, and sporting goods. Its registered address is the same as that of Huanggang Middle School.

In addition, the reporter discovered that the other party involved in the incident, Shaanxi Hengrui, the organizer of Jinghe Huanggang, has a big boss behind it.

According to Tianyancha information, the controlling shareholder of Shaanxi Hengrui is Guangdong Hengrui Education Investment Management Co., Ltd. Guangdong Hengrui is 100% controlled by Foshan Lehua Hengye Industrial Investment Co., Ltd., and the legal representative of Foshan Lehua Hengye Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. is Xie Yuerong. Xie Yuerong is more well-known as a big boss in the bathroom industry, chairman and general manager of Arrow Home Furnishing Group Co., Ltd.

Shaanxi Hengrui and Huanggang Education Group signed a cooperative school-running agreement (Photo from Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau WeChat official account)

Mystery to be solved

On August 8, Shaanxi Hengrui and Huanggang Education Group signed a cooperative school-running agreement in Huanggang City, Hubei Province. The two parties agreed to cooperate in teacher training, quality monitoring, teaching and research, student research, college entrance examination preparation, etc., and jointly enable the high-quality development of Huanggang Jinghe School in Xixian New District.

Jinghe Huanggang and Huanggang Education Bureau WeChat official accounts reported the incident. According to Jinghe Huanggang, the deputy director of Huanggang Education Bureau witnessed the signing ceremony, and the director of the External Cooperation Section of Huanggang Education Bureau presided over the signing ceremony.

Compared with Huanggang Education Valley, Huanggang Education Group is obviously more authoritative. Tianyancha information shows that the company is 100% controlled by Huanggang State-owned Capital Investment and Operation Group Co., Ltd., and the equity is ultimately passed to the Huanggang State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

The parties involved seem to have shaken hands and made peace, and everyone is happy. However, after reviewing the entire incident, there are still many questions that have not been clarified.

Why did Jinghe Huanggang, which had just two days ago firmly stated that it was legal and reasonable to use the "Huanggang" education brand, suddenly change its mind? Does the above signing mean that the cooperation between Shaanxi Hengrui and Huanggang Education Valley has failed? The reporter tried to contact Shaanxi Hengrui and Jinghe Huanggang, but none of their public contact information was connected.

In addition, where did the "Huanggang Education" authorization of Huanggang Education Valley come from, what is the specific content, and is the authorization still valid? The reporter also tried to contact the company, but the contact information disclosed in its industrial and commercial information was invalid.

It is also worth mentioning that according to the official WeChat account of Jinghe New City in Xixian New District, on the afternoon of June 16, 2019, the deputy mayor of Huanggang Municipal Government, the director and deputy director of Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau and others went to Jinghe Huanggang for inspection and exchanges.

During the above-mentioned inspection and exchange activities, the director of the Huanggang Municipal Education Bureau said that Jinghe Huanggang is a private school with a high starting point, complete school facilities, a group of highly educated and high-level teachers with educational sentiments teach and educate students here, and the school has advanced school-running concepts. I believe that in the near future the school will become a high-quality school welcomed by local people. The deputy mayor of Huanggang sent a message to Jinghe Huanggang, hoping that Jinghe Huanggang would cherish the brand of Huanggang and strive to make the school a famous school "originating from Huanggang and surpassing Huanggang".

Five years later, everything has changed.

Source: Poster News