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, which organized the contest. Most commenters expressed their amazement, while some questioned if it was real.
Jiang said 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 and Jiangsu universities praised her on their Weibo accounts. While it was unclear how Jiang ended up in vocational school, her story 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. I.
