Authorities: ‘Prodigy admitted to MIT news is fake’

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Chinese local authorities apologized to the public after it released a fake story about a child prodigy who was allegedly admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“The news we published was not true,” authorities from Education and Sports Bureau of Laiyang City in east China’s Shandong Province said in a statement issued on Monday evening. “We are deeply sorry for the careless verification.”

MIT Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill told the Shanghai-based news website thepaper.cn that the prominent university in the US will only admit those who apply in formal processes.

According to the news published earlier this month on the official WeChat account of Education and Sports Bureau of Laiyang City, the 14-year-old boy Li Xiangnan from the Second Experimental School of Laiyang received a place at MIT on October 13, 2017. “As a student being enrolled at one of the top universities in the world, Li is the record youngest.”

Li also claimed he was admitted to the college in an online video.

Li Xiangnan claimed he was admitted t‍o the college in an online video. /Photo via Internet

However, people quickly believed Li’s experience to be a clear lie, after internet users pointed out their doubts on social media platforms.

Firstly, Li claimed he was enrolled to a one-year course, but MIT doesn’t offer this option.

Secondly, according to public documents shown by the boy, the admission letter from MIT was written in Chinese, the email senders are all David Lee, while the recipients are all “my mailbox”, which is suspicious.

Thirdly, the news report said Li got “the medal award issued by the international competition ACPC held by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)”, but the certificate is inscribed with “World Trade Organization (WTO)”.

What’s more, Li’s classmates said his test scores were just “fine”. “He ranked about 30 or 40 among 60 students in our class,” Zhang Weiqiang told Chengdu-based news service Hongxing News.

Li Xiangnan comes from the Second Experimental School of Laiyang. /Hongxing News Photo

Despite these questions, authorities insisted the news was true last Friday. “We have seen the photos [of the contract]. Paper documents are on the way of delivery from the US to Laiyang.”

The fabricated news also said Li had designed a one-touch motion system which could turn the school computers on or off.

It also said Li founded Laiyang Wopu Cloud Computing Limited Company in 2016, which was the first company founded by a student in the city. One year later, he received letters of review from prominent universities in China including Tsinghua University, South China University of Technology and Southern University of Science and Technology.