One of China’s most famous teachers may have just been taught a lesson himself.

Yu Minhong, the English-teacher-turned-founder of tutoring giant New Oriental, has enraged people by saying that Chinese women have corrupted the country.

"The standard for Chinese women to choose a man is his ability to make money. They don't care about (the man's) conscience, so the decline of Chinese women has caused the country to decline," Yu said at a forum Sunday.

Yu’s take triggered harsh criticism online, including one by famous actress Zhang Yuqi, who said that Yu didn't understand gender equality.

Yu later wrote on Weibo that he felt deeply sorry for having misled people, saying he meant that "men are steered by women's value preferences: If women go for intellectual life, men will be wiser; if women only care about money, men will seek profit and neglect spiritual cultivation.”