Teen who wowed China in Alibaba math contest got help from teacher, organizers say

A vocational school student in China who wowed the public in June by finishing near the top in the preliminary round of a math contest was helped by her teacher in violation of the rules, the organizers said this week.

An investigation found that the math teacher’s assistance broke a rule of “no discussion with others,” the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition Organizing Committee said Sunday. It wasn’t clear how much of a difference the help made.

Jiang Ping, a teenager studying fashion design, became an overnight celebrity in China when she finished 12th in the preliminary round of the competition, which attracts graduates of top-tier universities including Cambridge, MIT and Caltech.

Blown-up photos of her were displayed on the walls of shopping malls in her hometown in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. Two major universities in the region praised her on their social media accounts.

While the accolades poured in, some people began raising suspicions on social media about a week later. Some noted that not everything looked right on a blackboard she filled with mathematical formulas during an interview with state broadcaster CCTV. 

Her school, the Jiangsu Lianjiang Vocational School, said Sunday that the teacher had been admonished and would not be eligible for one year for an evaluation that typically determines raises and promotions.

The school did not announce any punishment for the student, and called for “more tolerance and care” from the public to a minor.

The competition was started six years ago by Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant. Alibaba founder Jack Ma said the goal was to find students who enjoy math and encourage and support them.

The preliminary round of the contest was an open-book exam. Participants were allowed to use online and offline materials, as well as programming software, but discussion with others was prohibited, according to the contest announcement.

The investigation “exposed problems such as imperfect competition system and the lack of rigorous management. For this, we express our sincere apologies,” the organizing committee said.

The teacher, Wang Runqiu, also entered the contest and finished 125th in the preliminary round. Both he and Jiang qualified for the final round of 802 competitors, but the organizing committee statement said that neither was among the 86 winners.

Attempts to reach Wang and Jiang were unsuccessful. Damo Academy, the contest organizer, didn’t respond to an email, and a call to the vocational school was unanswered on Tuesday.