Chinese school award wads of cash to top students but people are questioning this gesture (Photos)

A secondary school has sparked an outcry in China after awarding her top pupils with wads of cash.

A total of eight million yuan (£930,000) was given away during an award ceremony held at the Shuren Middle School in Zhejiang province on November 20. A total of 239 pupils were awarded, students aged around 15, who were said to have passed China's high school entrance examination with flying colours.

Pictures from the award ceremony, which have gone viral on Chinese social media, show piles of 100 yuan bank notes stacking up on the table in the middle of the school hall.

Pupils received different amounts worth 100,000 yuan (£11,579), 50,000 yuan (£5,789) or 40,000

yuan (£4,631). The amount was linked to the recipient's scores in the senior high school entrance exam and 'other performances'.

However, Chinese web users are now debating whether or not cash is an appropriate reward for teenage pupils. The news attracted tens of thousand comments on QQ.com, China's major internet portal site.

Most web users questioned if the school's practice would encourage materialism.

'Students' focus will be shifted to money, these students might end up being corrupted officials,' one commented.  

'They now study to earn money. It is hard for them to concentrate on academic study in the future,' another noted.

'Why not spend eight million yuan to build a school in rural area?' one wondered.

'Are all these tuition fees from students that performed poorly at the exams?' A forth one joked.