Gifted China PhD holder who went from Wall Street to slums sees light at end of tunnel after 16-year homeless hell in New York
- Life of young academic ‘genius’ falls apart after messy US divorce
- Viral online video detailing plight sees university alumni rally round
Help is finally at hand for a highly-educated, former Wall Street software developer from China who fell upon hard times and has been sleeping on the streets of New York for the past 16 years.
The fortunes of Sun Weidong could be about to change after a video clip telling his story went viral online and was seen by fellow alumni of his alma mater, Shanghai Fudan University, who have persuaded him to move into a temporary shelter.
Sun, 54, who has a PhD degree and was hailed as a genius earlier in his life, captivated mainland social media earlier this month when his story was shared in a video filmed by another man from China who does business in New York, Jiupai News reported.
In the viral video, Sun says he is originally from the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu.
An academic high achiever, he was recruited by a genius class at Fudan University to study physics in 1985 while only in his first year of high school.
After graduating from the university with a bachelor’s degree, he went to the United States where he obtained a master’s and a PhD degree.