Vocational school student stuns China by besting competitors from top university in maths contest

Beijing, June 22

A 17-year-old vocational school student from rural China became a celebrity on social media after reaching the final round of a maths competition, beating many others from top universities and raising questions about the education system.

Jiang Ping, who is studying fashion design, finished 12th in the Alibaba Global Math Competition, one of 802 who made it to the final round — an eight-hour test that takes place Saturday.

A video that included an interview with Jiang got more than 800,000 likes and 90,000 comments after it was posted on social media by Damo Academy, the organiser of the contest. Most expressed their amazement, while some questioned if it was real.

Jiang, who couldn’t be reached for comment, says in the video interview that she didn’t think she deserved to join the competition, even though she enjoys working on advanced math as it “brings out my desire to explore.”

Congratulations poured in. People visited her parents’ home in a village in Jiangsu province on China’s east coast with alcohol and money to show support. Her pictures were shown on the walls of shopping malls in her hometown, Lianshui. Zhejiang University and Jiangsu University praised her on their Weibo accounts.

While it was unclear how Jiang ended up in vocational school, her story still reminded some in China of the inequality between rural and urban areas and how that can make it harder for even talented students to climb the economic ladder.

“While Jiang Ping is openly celebrated, many Chinese feel deep down inside that her story highlights the hopelessness of Chinese education,” said Jiang Xueqin, a China-based education researcher. “The odds are fundamentally stacked against ordinary Chinese, without power, wealth, or guanxi,’” the Chinese term for connections.

Inequality in education appears to have worsened in recent years. Spending on education in rural areas was 17 per cent less than in cities in 2019 for the nine years of compulsory education in China. It was only 2 per cent lower in 2013, based on calculations from data in a Peking University report. Ministry of Education data show that 70 per cent of students in China’s vocational schools are from rural areas. — AP