Schoolboy in China chooses forest nap over long bus wait igniting nationwide reflection

An eight year old schoolboy disappeared whilst waiting for his school bus sparking a frantic search for several hours. Eventually, he was found sleeping in a nearby forest. Upon waking, he explained that he had decided to sleep there because of the long wait for the school bus.

The incident happened in the city of Xi’an, China, and drew significant attention from the public across the country. Particularly because the event unfolded around 6am after the boy’s father dropped him off at the school bus stop before rushing off for work, leaving the boy alone. However, two hours later, the father was disturbed by a call from the school asking why his son had not boarded the school bus. This question left the family extremely worried, and they immediately reported the situation to the police.

The local police station was alerted about the missing primary school student and immediately dispatched a team to search for him. After nearly four hours of intensive searching by the police and family, they found the boy in a forest near the village, fast asleep.

The boy then woke up and explained that he had decided to take a nap in the nearby forest due to the long wait for the school bus. He remained asleep throughout the morning, unaware of the arrival of the school bus, reported Sanook.

After hearing the explanation from the eight year old boy, the parents and police were stunned. Luckily, the boy was not truly missing and was not in any danger. Nevertheless, the incident, although not serious, has caused many adults to reflect.

Netizens speculated that the real reason behind this incident is that the primary school student lacked adequate sleep, possibly due to long travel times to school and heavy homework.

His father took him to the school bus stop at 6am, which means he might have woken up at 5.30am to get ready. The general school time is 8am. Thus, it is inferred that his village is quite far from the school, and it might take more than one hour to travel by school bus.