A secondary teacher in China has gone viral for berating her pupils for using a term related to Down’s syndrome to mock others.

The term tang ren began to gain popularity among the country’s primary and middle school pupils about two years ago.

It is intended to refer to silly people or those displaying weird behaviour, the China Youth Daily reported.

It came into being because tang is the first Chinese character of tang shi zong he zheng , the Chinese translation for Down’s syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects a person’s body and brain development.

The idiom tang ren has long been connected to Chinese people.