> HEFEI, China (Reuter) - Genius is 99 percent perspiration,
>says boy wonder Zhang Wenxuan.
> The 14-year-old is the youngest university student in China
>and is enrolled along with other whiz kids at a special program
>for prodigies at the University of Science and Technology of
>China.
> The prestigious university in Hefei, capital of eastern
>Anhui province, launched the program in 1978 to bring together
>brainy children from across China for a five-year course.
> Zhang, from eastern Shandong province, started school at
>five and finished primary school at eight, middle school at 11
>and secondary school at 13.
> But he seems to be taking his success in his stride.
> ``I've never thought of myself as a genius,'' the
>14-year-old said in an interview. ``It'll make one arrogant.
>Arrogance will affect one's studies.''
> ``A genius also has to work hard,'' said Zhang, the eldest
>of two sons of a banker couple.
> Standing 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 118 pounds,
>Zhang, who loves soccer and instrumental music, has yet to
>decide what he wants to be when he grows up.
> But he shares at least one desire in common with many less
>fortunate Chinese -- he wants to go abroad to study. His choices
>are the United States or Japan.
> He scored 654 points this year in the national university
>entrance examination, the second highest nationwide, landing him
>a slot alongside China's best and brightest at the university.
> About 800 people applied in 1995, but only 43 were admitted,
>said Zhu Yuan, deputy director of the university's department of
>gifted youths. Twelve percent are girls.
> The students do not choose their specialist subjects until
>their fourth year.
> But not all students are humble and some have difficulty
>adapting to their new lives.
> ``A sense of superiority exists,'' said Zhu, who oversees
>the program. ``The road of science is a long one... students are
>taught to be humble and eager to learn.
> ``Because of their young age... they lag in their ability to
>live independently,'' Zhu said. About 15 percent of the class
>are introverts and unwilling to speak their minds.
> Some students feel pressure to live up to the expectations
>of others after they gain fame, and university authorities now
>frown on giving excessive publicity to individual students.
> The program was launched just two years after the end of the
>tumultuous 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when schools were closed
>and young Chinese took part in class struggles and protests or
>were sent to the countryside to live as peasants.
> In 1978, a vice premier recommended a 13-year-old genius for
>admission to the university and when the news spread, the school
>was flooded with letters recommending other such children.
> To date, 673 gifted children have graduated from the
>university's program. The youngest entered the university at
>only 11 years old.
> Seventy-two percent of the programme's graduates went on to
>study for master's degrees either at home or abroad.
> According to tests conducted in 1987, the average
>intelligence quotient of the programme's students was 125. The
>highest was 170.
> Zhang said he had few problems getting along with ordinary
>students in his class who are at least four years his senior.
> ``In senior high school, my classmates were all older than
>me. I'm used to it. I like to be with classmates who are
>older,'' Zhang said.
Wed Nov 8 14:25:01 CST 1995