Strikes by thousands of primary and high school teachers over underpaid bonuses and low salaries have spread to five counties in Xinyang, Henan Province on Sunday, after similar protests in Heilongjiang Province in late November.Two female teachers out of about ten struck by police in clashes in Huaibin county in Xinyang have been hospitalized, including Wang Ye, a politics teacher at Huaibin Senior High School, Yu Jianwei, Wang's husband and a teacher at the same school, told the Global Times Sunday.Seven teachers arrested on Sunday morning were released by the afternoon, Yang Shufeng, one of the seven teachers told the Global Times."The police said it was an illegal protest and asked us to shoulder the responsibility for it," Yang said.Some 1,000 teachers in Huaibin county gathered with banners reading "Raise salaries. Improve the quality of education" in front of the local government at around 9 am Sunday due to low base wages and undisclosed wage rates for merit bonuses, Yu said. But half of them were dispersed by school leaders.He added that police then attempted to tear down the banners and drag away the protesting teachers that remained. During the clash, his wife and other teachers were injured by the police.The county publicity department told the Global Times that there were only some 100 demonstrators, denying clashes between teachers and police officers, while the publicity head of the local police station said he had no knowledge of the arrests."The monthly salary on average is about 1,600 yuan ($257)," said Yu, who worked for seven years as a senior high school teacher, adding that wages of teachers in primary and junior high schools were lower."In addition, our [living] stipends were often withheld or paid in arrears. Salary deduction sometimes happens in the name of [charitable] donations without our consent," Yu said, adding that Monday classes may be suspended.The latest strike has emerged from other protests in Gushi, Luoshan, Xixian and Shangcheng counties staged since last week.Teachers in Luoshan county of Xinyang reached by the Global Times said the average monthly wage of the protestors ranged from 1,400 to 1,600 yuan, while local housing prices remain around 4,000 yuan per square meter. Minimum wage in counties in Xinyang is 1,100 yuan a month.As to merit bonuses, teachers in Huaibin and Luoshan counties confirmed that they received merit pay for 2014 on Thursday, but did not receive payment from 2010 to 2013."The average salary is low indeed. It may be due to the shrinking fiscal revenue that was the source of merit bonuses," said Guo Dongliang, dean of the Institute of Labor Science under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security