>	 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.