‘Downfall of prodigy’: China’s youngest graduate student and PhD candidate at 16 still financially dependent on parents at 28, says ‘they owe me’
- At age 16, he became PhD student in Applied Mathematics at a top university in Beijing
- His view of success has changed – now he does not have a full-time job, only has a few thousand yuan in his bank account, and lives in rented flat
Zhang Xinyang, 28, a Chinese prodigy who won a university place at the age of 10 and went to graduate school at 13, now says “sitting around and doing nothing is the key to lifelong happiness”.
Once well-known as “China’s youngest university student” and “China’s youngest graduate student”, Zhang is still financially dependent on his parents.
In 2011, at the age of 16, he became a PhD student in Applied Mathematics at Beihang University, a top Chinese university in Beijing.
He sparked a national controversy by demanding his parents, from a fourth-tier city in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, buy him a Beijing flat worth 2 million yuan (US$275,000).
Zhang told his parents if they didn’t buy him the flat he would give up his master’s degree and reject his PhD offer.
His parents finally rented a Beijing flat and lied to him that they had bought it, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported in 2011.
“Buying an apartment, finding a good job, and a Beijing hukou” – and so becoming officially registered as a city resident - was “success”, Zhang said in the report.
“You expect me to stay in Beijing more than anyone, and you should try hard for this,” he added, in comments directed at his parents.