A middle school in Jinjiang, East China’s Fujian Province, has apparently banned its students from wearing imported shoes to stop them from competing with each other over who has the fanciest footwear.

　　近日福建晋江一所中学出台了一项禁令，禁止学生穿进口鞋，从而防止学生互相攀比谁的鞋子最好。

　　A statement allegedly issued by the Zijiang Middle School went viral on February 24, which said that students have recently begun to compare their shoes with each other on campus. In order to be the coolest kid on the playground, some of the students have asked their parents to purchase them expensive imported shoes, the viral statement said.

　　2月24日，一份据称是紫江中学发布的声明被疯传，声明称该校学生最近开始互相攀比自己的鞋子。这份声明称，为了让自己成为操场上最闪耀的明星，一些学生要求家长为自己购买昂贵的进口鞋。

　　In order to curb these comparisons and promote frugality, the school says that students in some grades are now forbidden from wearing imported shoes on campus.

　　为遏制这种攀比之风、提倡进勤俭节约，该校表示说某些年级的学生现在禁止在学校穿进口鞋。

　　A teacher at the school surnamed Ye confirmed with news site thepaper.cn that the announcement is genuine and only applies to one of the school’s grades.

　　该校叶老师向澎湃新闻证实说，这份公告确有其事，但是只适用于该校一个年级。

　　Ye explained that the school has previously banned students from using cellphones and made them wear uniforms. In the absence of any other sartorial or technological distinction, the students then focused on their shoes. "Some students have even told their parents that they will quit school if they aren’t given good shoes to wear," said Ye.

　　叶老师解释说，该校之前曾经禁止学生使用手机，并要求他们穿校服。在没有好看的衣服和其他高科技设备的情况下，学生们把目光放在了鞋子上。叶老师表示说：“一些学生甚至威胁他们的父母说，如果自己没有好的鞋子就要退学。”

　　However, the statement triggered heated debate online, with Net users saying that the statement implies that all Chinese shoes China are cheap.

　　然而，这一声明却在网上引起了热议，有网民表示说这份声明的意思岂不是说所有国产鞋都很便宜?

　　Netizens named several made-in-China shoes that cost thousands of yuan a pair, saying that the students could just buy these shoes and avoid any lesson in frugality.

　　网民们列出了一些几千元一双的国产鞋，表示说学生们可以买这些鞋子，那样就可以避免被教育勤俭节约了。

（编辑：何莹莹）