Teen Chinese ‘maths genius’ was helped by teacher to ace global contest, probe finds

Jiang Ping gained national fame in June after ranking 12th in the preliminaries of the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition

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The top five gold medallists in the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition are from Peking University, Tsinghua University and the University of Maryland, College Park, according to final results announced on Sunday. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:05pm, 3 Nov 2024

A Chinese fashion design student hailed as a “genius” for her score in a national maths competition achieved the results with her teacher’s help, according to investigations by her school and the event organiser, who said she “did not win a prize”.

The Lianshui Secondary Vocational School in eastern Jiangsu province said on Sunday that Wang Ruihui, the teacher of Jiang Ping, had been given a warning over the matter and disqualified from this year’s awards for teachers.

Ping came into the national limelight in June, after beating hundreds of competitors from prestigious schools to rank 12th in the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition’s preliminaries.

The competition is held each year at Alibaba’s Damo Academy in eastern China’s Hangzhou and attracts contestants from some of the top schools around the world. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Ping, who was 17 at the time of the competition, was held up as an example of someone who could overcome her modest educational background to achieve major success.

But the national attention prompted scrutiny and other contestants questioned her scores and maths competence.