An online photo of a test paper’s question about Chinese celebrity blogger Li Ziqi that was asked of primary school students in East China’s Zhejiang Province and posted by an irate parent of a student, has gone viral on social media.
The post had been viewed 280 million times on China’s twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Saturday and spurred heated debate.
The parent asked if it was appropriate to include questions about a cyber celebrity in an official exam.
“I think the tester is lacking knowledge to put Li Ziqi on the exam,” the parent wrote in the post.
Some Chinese netizens supported the parent saying “putting Li’s fan numbers on the exam paper is like advertising for a public figure, which is not acceptable.”
Other Chinese netizens said Li is an inspirational celebrity who promotes Chinese culture to the world, and deserves to be known by students.
Li has more than 10 million followers on YouTube.
“Such a question allows students to keep pace with the times and broadens their knowledge beyond textbooks,” a Chinese netizen wrote on Weibo.
Yang Liu, the teacher who designed the test, told the reporter of Qianjiang Evening News that the question was in a reading section of the exam and asked students about three public luminaries including the motivational story of Yuan Longping, a globally renowned agronomist known for developing the first hybrid rice strains.
“The three characters are all typical figures who have overcome many difficulties. They are positive role models for children,” said Yang.
The local education administration’s director general, Zhu Zifan said the exam’s format was similar to the middle and high school entrance exams which contain readings that focus more on some social issues, the Qianjiang Evening News reported.
Video blogger Li Ziqi. Photo: screenshot of Li Ziqi’s video
