Parents regularly give money, 16-year-old prodigy pursuing a PhD, 28 years old this year

According to Jiupai News, he once received media attention for taking the college entrance examination at the age of 10 and entering university. Later, he pursued a master's degree at the age of 13 and a doctoral degree at the age of 16, becoming the "youngest master's student in the country" and "youngest doctoral student in China", which sparked social controversy. Later, he was criticized by the media for demanding his parents to pay in full for a house in Beijing.

There were many labels and topics surrounding Zhang Xinyang, including prodigies, hype, and vanity. Born in 1995 and now 28 years old, he admitted that his current thoughts have changed a lot.

"If I could start over again, I would still be Li Bai. How could I bow down and act like a powerful official, making me unhappy?"

【1】 Middle school grades are basically reciprocal, with an IQ of 140

Zhang Xinyang loves reading books and has been actively looking for books since the age of five or six. He said he would go to the library to read miscellaneous books, and only very good books would be bought and saved at home.

But he is not without entertainment activities either. "He also watches TV and doesn't become a bookworm if he reads books every day. Basically, as long as he broadcasts cartoons, I watch them. A few hours without cartoons are enough to do homework."

In 2005, 10-year-old Zhang Xinyang appeared after taking the college entrance examination

In elementary school, Zhang Xinyang kept skipping grades, but by middle school, his grades were very poor, basically at the bottom. In his view, middle school and high school are completely different knowledge systems, and even high school and university are completely different, so high school grades are still acceptable.

"We were able to get into a second tier university through the college entrance examination. At that time, we also considered two 985 universities, Renmin University of China and Central University for Nationalities. After the results were released, we only got 505 points, but with an additional 50 points, we still couldn't get into 555 points."

In 2005, 10-year-old Zhang Xinyang scored only 505 points in the college entrance examination, but his father decided not to repeat the exam and helped him apply to Tianjin Normal University.

If I didn't attend university at such a young age, would it be possible to get into Tsinghua and Peking University?

For this assumption, Zhang Xinyang believes it is unlikely. "It is precisely because according to my intelligence, even in an ideal state, it is likely to be a 985 university, while in a non ideal state, it is directly admitted to a juvenile detention center."

He has done various IQ tests online, and the test results are all around 140. "If compared to people like Wei Shen and Liu Zhiyu, it should be slightly lower than them at the same level."

【2】 Always ranked first in college, graduated after 8 years of pursuing a PhD

According to Professor Zhang Yuehui, a university teacher of Zhang Xinyang, "I taught him three courses and his grades were all very good, usually ranking first."

In his third year of college, Zhang Xinyang wanted to graduate early and pursue a master's degree. "Professor Liu Hua had originally contacted a German school for him to pursue a master's degree. They may have had a better education for geniuses than us, but he was too young. We advised his father to wait for a year, but they insisted on pursuing a master's degree directly after his third year."

In 2008, Zhang Xinyang pursued a master's degree in nonlinear analysis at the Mathematics Department of Beijing University of Technology. After 2011, he pursued a doctoral degree in applied mathematics at Beihang University.

He didn't think he was a child prodigy. "At that time, many children around me had intelligence comparable to mine. I am no longer the smallest undergraduate student, and if I remember correctly, I am not the smallest master's student either. There will soon be even smaller doctoral students than me."

At that time, Beihang University required two SCI papers to graduate. In 2017, he issued his first SCI and in 2019, he issued his second one. "It was because of this paper that it delayed for 5 years," he said.

In 2019, Zhang Xinyang finally completed his doctoral studies in 8 years, but some netizens claimed that his doctoral thesis could not be found.

In response, Zhang Xinyang said, "I can't find Beihang University's thesis on CNKI. If you want to check my thesis, you need to go to the website of the National Library."

【3】 I can rely on my parents for a lifetime without working

After graduating with a PhD, Zhang Xinyang worked as an external teacher at Ningxia Normal University. He resigned in August 2021 and is currently collaborating with friends on projects to earn money.

During his time as a teacher, he saved up about 50000 yuan, but now he's basically running out of it. "My parents would voluntarily give me 10000 yuan every two to three months. I don't have a fixed salary at the moment, and I can earn around 50000 yuan from completing a project."

Zhang Xinyang said that he only has a few thousand yuan left on his bank card, but he is unwilling to work for others. "You still want financial freedom after working for someone else? Are you joking? At least I don't have to look at others' faces now."

His parents do not fully agree with this. "Throughout 2022, I have been in intense conflict with them regarding my career development, and they are still giving me guidance even though they don't understand anything."

However, Zhang Xinyang is still quite satisfied with his current life. "I am unemployed and light hearted. I can live a lifetime without working. I can rely not only on my parents, but also on their parents, their parents. There may not be much left in our family's assets until now, but at least our family has lived a glorious life."

"If you really need anything, just give my dad a call. They still owe me a house in Beijing, which should be worth over 10 million by now."

【4】 Controversy over allowing parents to buy a house in Beijing in full

In October 2011, Zhang Xinyang stated in an interview that he had requested his parents to buy a house in Beijing in full as a condition for participating in the master's thesis defense, otherwise he would not have taken the PhD exam. This caused great controversy at the time.

His parents once told the media, "During that time, he forced us to buy a house in Beijing, saying that if you don't buy a house, I won't pursue a PhD." However, Zhang Xinyang believes, "You were the ones who wanted me to stay in Beijing the most, and you should work hard for it."

He once thought, "If you don't even have a house in Beijing, what's the use of graduating with a PhD in the end?" But later on, both sides compromised, "I compromised more.".

In 2011, Zhang Xinyang sparked controversy over his remarks about buying a house

Nowadays, Zhang Xinyang's thoughts have changed a lot: "12 years ago, I was passionate about Beijing houses with household registration, but now it's completely the opposite. I have no intention of buying a house at all. Is it okay to have no job, no house, and no loan?"

In Professor Zhang Yuehui's eyes, Zhang Xinyang has a strong ability to learn independently, but his ability to live independently is very poor. "Everything is arranged by his father. You can't eat three meals a day, why are you still studying?"

Professor Zhang Yuehui said, "I should give him a piece of advice: at this age, you can't hesitate anymore. You need to make a decision on what to do and never lie flat. He hasn't taken off or fallen off, maybe he's really a plane that can travel thousands of miles, but you haven't left the runway. He's still taxiing on the runway."