Reuters reports that American basketball star Shaquille O’Neal‘s gift of signed basketballs to four survivors of last year’s Sichuan Earthquake has created an internet row after the basketballs were taken away by the school staff:
The 15-times All Star doled out the balls to four children on Tuesday when he was visiting a school in Mianyang, the city worst affected by the earthquake which killed more than 80,000 people last year.
The boys were devastated when the balls were subsequently confiscated by school staff and China’s increasingly assertive Internet community rallied to their cause.
More than 90 percent of the 3,200 respondents to a Xinhuanet online poll felt the school had no right to take the gifts and comments on forums cast doubt upon official denials that they would be used for “private purposes,” China Daily reported.
In related news, see also a past CDT post on Shaq’s business deal in China.
