A 14-year-old female student from Jiangsu province is poised to step from the textbooks into the history books after she was tipped to enroll at one of China's top universities, thanks to a pilot program aimed at improving the country's university entrance system.
Hong Xinge, from Tianyi High School in Wuxi, is believed to be the youngest of 90 students nationwide to receive nominations from their headmasters to attend Peking University.
She submitted her application yesterday.
The next step for the prodigy will be an interview at the world-renowned institution.
The 90 students selected to take part in the pilot program come from 10 provinces around China, as well as the cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing.
Students who do well in the interview will stand a much better chance of getting into the university because they will not need to score as high as others in the university entrance exam.
The reform of the university entrance process being piloted by Peking University offers a backdoor into the university for exceptional students who might not necessarily do well in the entrance exam. The reform is aimed at ensuring quality students are not overlooked simply because of their performance in the national university entrance exam.
Schoolmaster Shen Maode told Yangtze Evening News on Tuesday that Hong scored well in international proficiency tests. She earned a 7.5 in the IELTS test, a 106 on the TOEFL test and got a maximum score in her United States SATs.
Hong excels at Chinese and English and, at her tender age, is already working on her first novel. Classmates pointed out that she is an all-rounder, having won awards for long-distance running and Latin dancing, the paper said.
The experiment at Peking University gives qualified high school headmasters the chance to recommend exceptional students. On Nov 16, the university released a list of 39 high school headmasters nationwide authorized to take part.
Questions:
1. How old is Hong Xinge?
2. How many students will be selected to take part in the pilot?
3. How many school headmasters nationwide are authorized to take part?
Answers:
1. 14.
2. 90.
3. 39.
(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)
About the broadcaster:
Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.