China school in hot water over US$140,000 cash prize for student accepted by top university
In early August, Dajiang International School in Guigang, a small city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southwestern China, held a graduation ceremony for its Class of 2025 students.
The cash awards prompted the Guigang Municipal Education Bureau to intervene and stop the school's 'irregular practice'.
'The state authorities discourage schools from doing publicity on their 'gaokao' scores. We have already stopped the Dajiang school's practice,' an official from the bureau, whose name was not revealed, told Jiupai News on August 12.
At the ceremony, a number of graduates who were recently admitted to top universities received cash prizes from their alma mater.
Among them was a girl, surnamed Luo, who is set to become a first-year at Tsinghua University in September.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
28 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Xiaomi posts record revenue of US$16 billion in second quarter on strong electric vehicle sales
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi posted a 30.5 per cent increase in revenue for the second quarter, driven by strong demand for electric vehicles (EVs), even though its core smartphone business experienced flat sales. The Beijing-based company on Tuesday reported revenue of 116 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion) for the three months ended June, a record high that beat analysts' estimates of 114.94 billion yuan. Net profit for the period also reached a record at 10.8 billion yuan, a 75.4 per cent year-on-year increase, exceeding the 8.88 billion yuan forecast by analysts. Xiaomi's Hong Kong-listed shares closed down 1.23 per cent at HK$52.40 on Tuesday ahead of the earnings release. With smartphone sales stagnating, EVs were the primary source of growth for Xiaomi, according to Dan Baker, a senior equity analyst at investment consultancy Morningstar. Revenue from Xiaomi's smart EV, artificial intelligence and other new initiatives business segment reached 21.3 billion yuan in the second quarter.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
US underestimating China's AI progress, OpenAI's Sam Altman says
'I'm worried about China,' the 40-year-old Altman was quoted as saying on Monday in a report by American business news channel CNBC. He indicated that the AI arms race between the US and China was more complex than it appeared. 'There's inference capacity, where China probably can build faster,' he said. 'There's research, there's product; a lot of layers to the whole thing. I don't think it'll be as simple as: is the US or China ahead?' His assessment marks the latest sign that Chinese AI companies have been narrowing the gap with their US peers by using an open-source approach, making the source code of AI models available for third-party developers to use, modify and distribute. Open-source models from Chinese start-ups like DeepSeek and MoonshotAI , along with those from mainland Big Tech firms led by Alibaba Group Holding , have seen increased adoption across the industry on the back of their low-cost appeal and innovative features. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's Wang Yi appeals for shared vision of partnership and opportunity on India trip
Speaking to his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in New Delhi on Monday, Wang said that both countries should 'put each other's precious resources into development and revitalisation'. 'China and India should explore the right path of treating each other with mutual respect and trust, living in peace, pursuing development together and achieving win–win cooperation … and consolidate the momentum of improving China-India relations,' he said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout. 02:29 Chinese nationalism surges across social media as viral video mocks downed Indian jets Chinese nationalism surges across social media as viral video mocks downed Indian jets According to The Economic Times, an Indian media outlet, China has promised to address India's three concerns, namely 'rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines', citing sources. Wang's trip marked another milestone in ties between China and India, which dropped to a historic low after a deadly border clash in 2020. The two countries are now seeing their relationship improve as they both also face an uphill trade war with the US. According to India's foreign ministry, the top diplomats' conversation included various topics, including economic and trade issues, pilgrimages, people-to-people contacts, border trade, the sharing of river data and connectivity. After arriving on Monday, the Chinese foreign minister held talks about the border with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday and is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day. Jaishankar, for his part, said Beijing and Delhi had to engage in 'mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest', and said 'differences must not become disputes, nor competition conflict'.
