An 18-year-old Chinese student who drove to his university entrance exam in a Mercedes-Maybach and was derided as a “spoiled rich boy” has surprised doubters by achieving top marks.
Zhu Yetian, a graduate of Hangzhou No.2 High School in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, has been dubbed the “Young Master of Maybach” after a video of his father driving him to and from work in his luxury car went viral online.
he, Gaokao According to ChaoNews, he enrolled in university in China and scored 700 out of a possible 750 points, good enough to get into one of the country’s top universities.
After Zhu’s results were announced, Chinese social media was flooded with comments about his wealthy family background and academic excellence.
“If they come from such a wealthy family, why would they bother to take the gaokao?” asked one Baidu user.
“God has given him too much favour. His family is well-off and his academic performance is excellent,” said another.
His grandfather, Zhu Bingren, was a renowned bronze sculptor and 100 selected works will be exhibited at the National Museum of China in Beijing this month.
The 80-year-old artist is known for bronze-painting the exterior of Hangzhou’s historic Leifeng Pagoda when it was restored 20 years ago.
His son, the boy’s father, Zhu Junmin, is also a successful entrepreneur and an accomplished bronze craftsman.
The younger Zhu always got good grades, according to the report.
According to his grandfather, the boy is very disciplined and has given up his hobby of playing mobile games over the past three years to focus on his studies.
Zhu said his dream was to get into Peking University and he chose to endure the ordeal of taking the difficult gaokao exam because passing it was the only way.
He excels in several subjects and even won the National Chemistry Olympiad last year.
“When I started studying chemistry, I had to recite a lot of things. But later I realised the subject requires logic, reasoning and imagination. I started enjoying studying chemistry more and more,” he said.
His ambition is to carry out scientific research into new materials.
The father posted on Weibo that his son was reading a university textbook at 8 a.m. on June 11.
“Everyone only sees you as ‘Young Master Maybach,’ but we know how hard you have studied,” his father said.
Young Zhu said he didn’t like his new nickname because it had negative connotations of flaunting wealth.
“The stereotype of children from wealthy families is that they are ignorant, incompetent, flashy and wasteful.
“But many of my classmates also come from wealthy families, but they are down-to-earth, modest, humble and polite. I often tell myself that I learn from them,” he said.
“By working hard, I want to shed the label of being just the son of a wealthy family,” he added.
