File photo of Yu Minhong. [Photo/VCG]

Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental Education and Technology Group, apologized for saying that the degeneration of Chinese women has led to the degeneration of the whole country-comments that have raised heated discussion online since Sunday.

新东方教育科技集团创始人俞敏洪就“中国女性堕落导致整个国家堕落”的言论致歉。18日以来，此番言论在网上引发热议。

18日，在2018学习力大会上，俞敏洪在谈到如何改变教育方向时，举例说：

“如果中国所有的女生找男人的标准，都是这个男人会背唐诗宋词(the poetry of Tang Dynasty and the iambic verses of Song Dynasty)，那全中国所有的男人都会把唐诗宋词背的滚瓜烂熟。如果说所有的女生都说，中国男人就是要他赚钱(gain a fortune)，至于说他良心好不好我不管(do not care if they are good people)，那所有的中国男人都会变成良心不好但是赚钱很多的男人。这正是中国现代女生挑选男人的标准(the current standard for Chinese women picking men)。

Therefore, that's why we often say that women determine whether the country is good or not. And now the degeneration of Chinese women has led to the degeneration of the whole country.

所以实际上，一个国家到底好不好，我们常常说在女性，就是因为这个原因。现在中国是因为女性的堕落才导致整个国家的堕落。

此番言论在网友中引起了轩然大波(cause a stir among netizens)，也引发了各界的口诛笔伐。

女星张雨绮也在微博上发贴diss俞敏洪：

An education from Peking University and the success of New Oriental Education failed to help you understand the value of women and gender equality, even the meaning of equality.

我只能说北大的教育和新东方的成功，都没能帮你理解女性的价值，没让你能理解什么是平等的两性关系，甚至没帮你搞明白什么是平等。

作家六六称俞敏洪骨子里摆脱不掉传统文化的糟粕：

在骂声中，当天晚上，俞敏洪发文道歉，他表示：

Today, when I tried to explain during a forum how the direction of evaluation determines the direction of education, I used the analogy of women's standards in looking for a husband. Because of my poor analogy, I caused misunderstanding among netizens, about which I'm very sorry.

今天我某个论坛上阐释“衡量评价的方向决定了教育的方向”这一论点时，用了女人找男人的标准做例子，由于没有表达好，引起了网友的误解，在此深表歉意。

What I wanted to say was that the level of women in a country represents the level of the country. Well-educated women and mothers can cultivate well-educated children.

我想表达的真正意思是：一个国家的女性的水平，就代表了国家的水平。女性素质高，母亲素质高，就能够教育出高素质的孩子。

Men are also guided by women's values. If women pursue an intellectual life, men will become more intelligent. If women care only about money, men will strive to make more money and ignore the cultivation of their spirit. If women are strong, then men are strong, then the country is strong.

男性也被女性的价值观所引导，女性如果追求知性生活，男性一定会变得更智慧;女性如果眼里只有钱，男性就会拼命去挣钱，忽视了精神的修炼。女性强则男人强，则国家强。

不过，大多数网友对此并不买账(do not accept his apology)：

A comment by Sina Weibo user Maysee said: "The level of women in a country does not represent the level of a country; rather, the level of how women are being treated in a country represents the level of a country."

新浪微博用户Maysee评论称：“不是一个国家女性的水平代表了一个国家的水平;而是一个国家对待女性的水平代表了一个国家的水平。”

“我以为在男权社会(male-dominated society)里，女人是决不会有这种大力量的，兴亡的责任，都应该男的负。但向来男性的作者，大抵将败亡的大罪，推在女性身上，这真是一钱不值的没有出息的男人。”有网友引用文学家鲁迅的一段话得到了网友的赞许。

但也有网友对俞敏洪的观点表示支持：

一条被点赞2000次的评论称：“他说的是事实(he is telling the truth)，就算这令人感到不快。”

另一条评论称：“老俞的出发点是好的，他想唤醒那些价值观不正的人(awaken those who are not following the correct values)。”