In March 2015, two incidents of bullying and assaults occurred in Rowland Heights, California, with Chinese nationals as the perpetrators.
[1] On March 30, 2015, another incident began at the Honeymee,[1] an ice cream parlor located in Yes Plaza on Colima and Fullerton Roads.
[1] The perpetrators forced her to clean up ice cream smears and cigarette butts with her hand before taking her to Rowland Heights Park, located on Banida Avenue, where she was stripped of her clothing, slapped, burned with cigarettes, beaten, and forced to eat her own hair,[1] which her assailants cut from her head.
[1] The adult perpetrators of the March 30 incident were Yuhan "Coco" Yang (杨玉涵 Yáng Yùhán), Xinlei "John" Zhang (章鑫磊 Zhāng Xīnlěi), and Yunyao “Helen” Zhai (翟芸瑶 Zhái Yúnyáo).
[1] The victims and the perpetrators were "parachute kids", high school students from overseas who study in the United States without their parents and/or grandparents present.
[5] For this reason, California Judge Thomas C. Falls compared this incident to the events in the book Lord of the Flies, which told the story of unsupervised minors.
Some Chinese internet users supported the punishment since many similar bullying cases in Mainland China have not resulted in criminal prosecution.