A college in China has been received some harsh criticism for appearing to gloat in a statement concerning the New Year's Eve stampede in Shanghai that killed 36 people.

The Modern College of Northwest University in Xi'an City e, said that the tragedy proved that college's strict holiday policies were "utterly correct."

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Last month, the college initiated a policy prohibiting its students from celebrating Christmas and made them watch traditional cultural films instead. In the college's official blog, it wrote an editorial titled "Shanghai stampede tragedy proves our holiday management utterly correct."

In its editorial, the college said that Chinese traditional festivals and culture were disappearing as people increasing celebrate Western traditions. It said that if the stampede occurred on Christmas Eve in Xi'an, the wisdom of the college's holiday policy would have been "more self-evident."

The college was widely criticized in the media and on the Internet when it made its Christmas policy in December.

The blog post added that China's youth have become "overly infatuated" with Western holidays, and that the stampede was a result of lax student management.

China Daily reports that the post has become a popular topic of  conversation online, with some angry netizens calling the college "shameless" for justifying its value through the tragedy.

"It looks to me that the college is taking pleasure in others' misfortune," said one commenter.

"In their logic, 2014 saw many plane crashes and I never took a flight, so that proves me 'utterly correct'?" said another netizen.

Despite the criticism, some people showed some empathy to the college, saying that although the wording and timing might be a little abrasive, it was essentially correct.

China Daily also reports that after the firestorm of criticism on the Internet, the college changed the title of the post to "Deeply grieving the loss of our compatriots in the Shanghai stampede tragedy," though it did not change the content.

TagsCollege Accused of Gloating Over Shanghai Stampede, Modern College of Northwest University, New Year's Eve stampede, utterly correct