Zhang Xinyang (张炘炀), a 16-year-old getting his PhD in pure mathematics at Beihang University (北京航空航天大学), earlier this year refused to defend his master's thesis until his parents agreed to buy him his own apartment. Finally out of options, Zhang's parents rented an apartment in Beijing, and lied to their son about buying it. He's found out about the ruse, but his demands for an apartment haven't wavered. more ›

Beijing University, the bastion of academic excellence, has the cutest proctor we've ever seen: Academia Cat! A student on Beida's forums posted a topic on "Beida's most respectable cat," who apparently enrolled in 2004, and has been sleeping on student's desks and catwalking on teacher's podiums ever since. Apparently, Academia cat enjoys staring for long periods at people, and listening to lectures on Thoreau's Transcendentalism. Adorable! Source: Sina more ›

This story caused us to hyperventilate after we realised that it happened right here in what is supposed to be China's most liberal city. Professor Yang Shiqun (杨师群) of Shanghai's East China University of Political Science and Law (which by the way is supposed to be a pretty good uni) was reported by two of his female students to the public security bureau and the municipal education committee for his alleged anti-government and counter-revolutionary ideas. Steve Cotner of The Foreign Expert translates a blogpost written by the professor (which seems to have been removed by Sohu in the meanwhile — read his other less subversive views here) telling his side of the story:

Students Accused Me of Being “Counterrevolutionary” more ›