12th Place in the Math Competition, Advances to Finals Amid Controversy
Caught ‘Consulting with Teacher’ During Preliminary
Teacher Disciplined… “Show Leniency to Minors”,
Zhang Ping/CCTV,
,
, ‘It was revealed that Zhang Ping, a 17-year-old vocational school student who became the talk of the town for advancing to the finals of an international math competition held in China, violated competition rules during the preliminaries.’,
,
, ‘According to Hong Kong Ming Pao and other sources on the 4th, the organizing committee of the Alibaba Global Math Competition in China announced the previous day that Zhang Ping, a student from Lianshui Secondary Vocational School in Jiangsu Province, did not win any awards based on the scoring results. The organizing committee apologized for the lax management of the competition, stating that an investigation found that teacher Wang helped his student during the preliminaries, violating the rule prohibiting consultation with others.’,
,
, ‘Zhang Ping ranked 12th in the math competition preliminaries held in June, advancing to the finals. She was the only female among the 30 finalists and it was the first time a vocational school student reached the finals in this competition. The competition had 801 participants from 17 countries, and most finalists were from prestigious universities like Cambridge University, MIT, Peking University, and Tsinghua University. Zhang Ping’s teacher, Wang Lien-chu, ranked 125th.’,
,
, ‘Zhang Ping’s advancement to the finals attracted significant attention in China. State-run media such as CCTV and People’s Daily eagerly portrayed Zhang Ping as a ‘genius girl’. The Global Times reported that Zhang Ping’s progression to the finals was a beacon of hope for vocational schools, which are often stigmatized as a place for kids deemed failures.’,
,
, ‘Soon after, Zhang Ping was embroiled in allegations of cheating and proxy testing. Some netizens demanded a rescore, criticizing the lax organization of the competition. The competition was held online with open-book access for 48 hours, allowing consultation with offline and online materials and computer programs, but prohibited discussion with others. There was reportedly no on-site supervision. When Zhang Ping’s advancement became controversial, official media deleted related articles.’,
,
, ‘While some argued the allegations highlighted the negative aspects of academic elitism, the misconduct was confirmed. There was regret over a disdain that overshadowed true mathematical talent. Lianshui Vocational School issued a warning to teacher Wang Lien-chu, stripping him of his outstanding teacher designation for the year, and stated, “We hope the public shows compassion and love towards minors,” according to Ming Pao.\n