An 18-year-old Chinese student who was mocked for being a “spoilt rich boy” after arriving at the university entrance exam in a Mercedes Maybach, surprised doubters when he got top marks.
Zhu Yetian, a graduate from Hangzhou No 2 High School in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, was dubbed “Young Master of Maybach” after video footage of his father dropping him off in the luxury car went viral online.
He sat the gruelling university entrance exam, known as gaokao in China, and achieved 700 out of 750 marks, high enough for him to be enrolled in one of the country’s top universities, Chao News reported.
After Zhu’s results were released, social media in China was abuzz with comments about his prosperous family background and his academic excellence.
“With such a rich family, why does he bother to take gaokao?” one person on Baidu asked.
“The gods treat him too well. His family is rich and his academic performance is amazing,” said another.
His grandfather, Zhu Bingren, is a famous bronze sculpture master whose 100 selected works are scheduled to be exhibited in the China National Museum in Beijing this month.
The 80-year-old artist famously applied bronze to the outside of Hangzhou’s historical Leifeng Pagoda when it was being restored two decades ago.
His son – the boy’s father – Zhu Junmin, is also an accomplished bronze craftsman as well as being a successful entrepreneur.
Young Zhu had always been a top student, the report said.
According to his grandfather, the boy is very disciplined and quit his hobby of playing mobile games in the last three years to really focus on studying.
Zhu junior said he chose to endure the hardship of taking the challenging gaokao exam because his dream is to attend Peking University, and passing the test is the only path.
He excels at several subjects and even won a championship at the National Chemistry Olympic Games last year.
“When I started to learn chemistry, I needed to recite many things. But later, I realised the subject requires logic, reasoning and imagination. I found more and more fun in studying chemistry,” he said.
His ambition is to undertake scientific research in new materials.
His father wrote on Weibo that the boy was reading a textbook of a university curriculum at 8am on June 11.
“They only see a ‘Young Master of Maybach’, but I know how hard you’ve studied,” said his father.
Zhu junior said he did not like the new nickname because of its negative connotation of flaunting wealth.
“The stereotype for wealthy family’s kids is that they are ignorant, incompetent, flamboyant, and lavish spenders.
“However, a lot of my classmates are also from rich families, but they are pragmatic, low profile, humble and polite. I often remind myself to learn from them,” he said.
“I hope to shake off the label of simply being a wealthy family’s boy through my hard work,” he added.
