(Ecns.cn)--At the age of 16, as most senior high school students are still worrying about what university they are going to attend, Zhang Xinyang, the youngest PhD student in China is asking for something else in life.
Enrolled at the Tianjin University of Technology and Education in 2005, Zhang, at the age of 10, was touted as the youngest university student in China. Since then, words like prodigy, genius, and wonder have been surrounding him. At the same time, doubts and concerns about him have followed.
This week, only one month after Zhang started his first semester at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) as a PhD student, some of the words he published on his Weibo, saying that white-collar workers contribute nothing to Beijing has once again dragged him to the center of people's attention.
At nearly the same time, in a TV interview, he told the interviewer that he thought his parents should buy him an apartment in Beijing to keep him away from being a Beijing drifter. Zhang's statements have subsequently triggered heated discussion and criticism online.
The making of a Doctor
For many people, Zhang has turned out to be a spoiled kid who overestimates himself and easily makes enemies with others. But as a 16-year-old child, the path that led him to where he is today was not totally decided by himself.
Zhang, the son of a very common Chinese family, was born on July 8 in Panjin city in northeast China's Liaoning Province. At the age of two and a half, he learned over a thousand Chinese characters within three months and he went to primary school at four.
Zhang's father, who could have been in the first generation of students in the MBA program at Renmin University, had him at the age of 36. Because due to didn't have enough money for tuition, his father gave up the chance to pursue his studies. But since having his son, Zhang Xinyang, he has being doing everything to let his child realize dreams that were once his.
Since his father was able to teach him a lot at home, at the age of six, Zhang skipped three grades to the fifth grade in primary school and at the age of nine, he directly entered into the third grade of senior high school.
At the age of 10, Zhang passed the college entrance examination and became a university student in Tianjin. At the age of 13, he began a Master's program in Beijing. Though the Master's study was hard and the thesis was really tough, the boy made it and entered a PhD program.
"The person who I admire most is myself, because I am the most excellent person in the world," said Zhang at the age of 10, although he later admitted that he had been too arrogant about himself at the time.
