SHANGHAI, Oct. 25 -- A FEMALE university student in Shanghai was so scared yesterday by a grisly multimedia message, which was sent by her schoolmate as "a joke," that she fainted, the Labor Daily said today.

The sophomore student at Tongji University, who was only identified by the surname Wang, said she received the message about 2pm, just before a class.

Wang was unwilling to recall the content of the message when interviewed in nearby Changhai Hospital yesterday afternoon.

A classmate showed the newspaper's reporter the scary message.

"I am Xiaoqian and I was dismembered three years ago…" the text said, before the image of a woman's decapitated head jumped onto the screen.

She had a pallid face, red eyes and messy long hair, with blood flowing from her mouth. The image was accompanied by screaming noises.

"We very often send such messages to friends to make fun," said the classmate. "But Wang's response was not expected."

Doctors said Wang is OK and just needs some rest.