By Carlos Tejada

The U.S. shooting drew extensive coverage in Chinese media over the weekend, including on state broadcaster China Central Television.

The coverage—and the lighter treatment the Henan attack drew—sparked criticism online, ranking among the most commented-on postings on Sina Corp.'s Twitter-like Weibo microblogging service over the weekend.

"The tragedies in the U.S. and in Henan almost happened on the same day," said one user, posting under the name Dahetao. "Why would CCTV pay so much attention to something that happened thousands of miles away rather than mentioning something about the case in our own country? The lives of Chinese kids aren't as precious as American ones?"

Officials from CCTV couldn't be reached over the weekend to comment on the matter.

The U.S. incident also sparked discussion over firearms in the U.S. Guns in China are strictly controlled, and its overall homicide rate of one per 100,000 is less than a quarter of the 4.8 per 100,000 rate of the U.S., according to United Nations crime statistics.

"The gun situation in America is out of control," said one user posting under the name Shi Linjie. "There are more and more shooting cases with more and more victims. The president wouldn't do anything to control the situation because he's afraid of losing votes. This is the so-called heaven-like America."

Still, much of the reaction was sympathetic.

"Foreign or Chinese, the lives of kids are so beautiful and fragile," said a poster using the name Chen Shiqin. "Please remember to hug your children and tell them we love them every day."

Chinese President Hu Jintao sent condolences on Saturday to U.S. President Barack Obama, Xinhua reported, which said he "expressed profound sympathy with and faithful solicitude to the U.S. government and its people over the school shooting tragedy." Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi sent a similar note to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

See the original story here.

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