Elementary Student in China Publishes Academic Paper After 5 Days of Self-Study... Controversy Over Parents Writing on Their Behalf

Submission of Cancer Cell Research Paper
Self-Studied Related Content Through 'Internet Search' in 5 Days

A boy named A, who was a 6th-grade elementary school student at the time, submitted a research paper on colorectal cancer cells at the '2019 National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition' held in China last year. / Photo by Global Times, China

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Lim Juhyung] It has become a hot topic that an elementary school student in China grasped the concept of genetics in just five days, submitted a research paper to an academic conference, and won an award. However, suspicions have arisen that the student's parents, confirmed to be researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' genetics institute, may have been involved in the competition.

According to China's state-run 'CCTV' on the 13th (local time), at the '2019 National Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition' held in China last year, a sixth-grade elementary school student named A submitted a master's level thesis and won third place.

This competition is a prestigious event organized by the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Science Association, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and is known as an important science and technology academic conference that influences college admissions.

It was reported that A chose the study of the 'C10orf67' gene related to colorectal cancer cells as the research topic.

However, suspicions arose questioning whether the research truly belonged to A after it was revealed that A had only started studying the concept of genetics one year before submitting the paper.

According to A's research process and experiment notes posted in the official online exhibition hall of the academic conference, A learned about the 'C10orf67' gene on January 9, 2018, through the internet and grasped the concept of genetics by January 13.

In just five days, A self-studied the concept of genetics, submitted a research paper, and won third place at the academic conference.

In particular, controversy grew as it was confirmed that A's parents work as researchers at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was also reported that A's mother was in charge of a project titled 'Study on the Function and Mechanism of C10orf67.'

As this fact became known, Chinese netizens raised critical voices such as "Isn't this using the parents' research achievements?", "Is it possible for an elementary school student to acquire that level of knowledge in five days?", and "Anyone can see that the parents wrote it instead."

The Kunming Institute of Zoology has launched an investigation into the colorectal cancer research paper submitted by A as the controversy spreads.