A 61-year-old father who said sending his daughter to study abroad in the United States was “the worst decision of his life” is making the rounds on Chinese social media.

　　“61岁父亲将女儿送到美国读书，却成为他这辈子最错误的决定”这一话题在中国的社交媒体上受到热烈讨论。

　　Zhang Yong told the Guangzhou Daily on Tuesday that his daughter, Zhang Li, traveled to the U.S. 10 years ago to pursue a degree at an unnamed American university.

　　周二，张勇告诉《广州日报》说，女儿张莉10年前去了美国某大学读书。

　　She eventually married an American man and never returned to her hometown.

　　最后，女儿嫁给了一个美国人，之后再也没有回过家乡。

　　Zhang, a retiree who used to work in an electronic parts factory, said he has sacrificed ton of things for his daughter’s education, selling his 110-square-meter (1184-square-foot) house and moved to a smaller apartment to save up money for the over 300,000 yuan ($43,500) annual tuition.

　　张勇是一名家电配件厂的退休工人，为了供女儿上学，他牺牲了很多。为了给女儿凑出每年30多万的学费，他卖掉了110平米的房子，搬到了小房子里。

　　At first, he and his family were so proud that Zhang Li got accepted to a great school, but Zhang Yong now says he is concerned nobody will care for him and his 60-year-old wife, Zhu Jing, in their old age.

　　张莉能够被这么好的学校录取，张勇一家人都为她感到骄傲。但是现在，张勇却担心老了之后没有人照顾他和60多岁的妻子朱静。

　　When they said goodbye at the airport a decade ago, Zhu said she set strict rules for their daughter: Do not find a foreign boyfriend, don’t become a single mother or get in a relationship with her teachers.

　　十年前在机场分别的时候，朱静还给女儿划了几条红线：不准找外国人当男友，不能当未婚妈妈，不能和学校的老师搞师生恋。

　　She also used to call her daughter three times a day, but Zhang Li hardly speaks to her family anymore.

　　朱静曾经每天给女儿打三个电话，但现在张莉很少和家里人通电话了。

　　“We haven’t been in contact with her for two weeks,” said Zhang.

　　“我们已经两周没有联系过了。”张勇说道。

　　Since Thursday, hashtags on the topic have been viewed more than 20 million times and counting on China’s social media site Weibo, with many netizens debating the value of leaving the country to study overseas, according to Sixth Tone.

　　据《第六声》报道，周四以来，这一话题在微博上的点击量超过了2000万次，网友们就出国留学的价值展开了激烈的讨论。

　　“If you’re talented enough, you should first pay back the money your parents spent on you before you pursue your own dreams,” one user commented. “Making your parents responsible for paying for you to be happy is just selfish.”

　　“有足够的能力之后，你应该先把父母花在你身上的钱还给他们，再去追求自己的梦想，”网友评论说：“让父母为你的幸福花钱太自私了。”

　　Another wrote: “Did the parents even consult the daughter about how she wanted it to be paid for? What’s the problem now that she has found her own happiness and doesn’t want to come back? If the parents just wanted some money-earning machine to take care of them in their old age, then that’s just too bloody disgusting.”

　　另一网友写道：“父母有问过女儿会以什么方式回报他们的付出吗?现在的问题是她已经找到自己的幸福了，不想回来又怎么了?如果父母只是把女儿当作挣钱的工具，等老了来照顾他们，那也未免太令人厌恶了。”

　　One other user said: “No mother or father wants to stop their children from doing well.”

　　还有网友说：“没有父母会阻止自己的孩子变优秀。”

　　According to the Chinese Ministry of Education, about 523,700 Chinese students traveled abroad to attend college in 2015.

　　据中国教育部统计，2015年去国外上大学的中国学生多达523700人。