Quarantined Chinese Kids Figure Out Trick to Escape Homework

Quarantined Chinese Kids Figure Out Trick to Escape Homework

Chinese kids spammed DingTalk, an online learning app, with one star ratings.

This is the best of times, this is the worst of times: as coronavirus grips the world and cities placed under lockdown, millions quarantined and thousands of people dead, unexpected responses to the virus stick out as bright rays of hope that root you to normalcy in a world going increasingly crazy.

Wuhan, the Chinese city of the Hubei province, which has been the epicenter of the coronavirus, has been under lockdown since January 23, 2020. Residents have been told to remain home, schools and universities shut, and travel restrictions imposed. Other Chinese cities followed similar directives and most of China has remained closed. Schools and teachers, however, began using an app called DingTalk, developed by Alibaba, which enabled online learning. But hell hath no fury than children forced into homework.

Also Read: Living Through Coronavirus: Two Chinese Nationals Tell All

Wang Xiuying in a piece for the London Review of BooksSomehow the little brats worked out that if enough users gave the app a one-star review it would get booted off the App Store. Tens of thousands of reviews flooded in, and DingTalk’s rating plummeted overnight from 4.9 to 1.4.

To escape homework, the students literally rallied together to bring down the rating of the application and kill it from the app store. Here's what a one star review ironically said:

Well, this app is so fantastic because it makes it possible for us Chinese students to see our lovely teachers and have classes during our winter holiday!!!

Reactions on the internet applauded the kids’ ingenuity.

The app soon joined in on the game. Taking to social media, DingTalk posted, ‘I am only five years old, please don’t kill me.’