In June, a 17-year-old fashion design student from a tiny Chinese village became a national sensation by beating thousands of elite graduates to reach the final of a prestigious global math contest.

Jiang Ping was hailed as a “genius,” but many suspected the story was too good to be true. On Sunday, the competition organizers and Jiang’s school both released statements confirming that Jiang had received assistance from her math teacher during the test.

Alibaba DAMO Academy, the organization that runs the contest, published the outcome of the competition final on Sunday while announcing the results of an investigation into Jiang’s performance in the preliminary round. According to the statement, Jiang’s teacher Wang Runqiu had been found to have “provided assistance” to her during the competition, violating rules prohibiting entrants from communicating with others during the tests.

The academy added that neither Jiang nor Wang had received an award during the competition final, and apologized for the “insufficient rigor” in the competition’s design and management.

Lianshui Vocational School, Jiang’s school, confirmed in its statement that Wang had been given a formal caution and banned from receiving any school awards this year.

The school added that it would “intensify efforts to promote a strong code of ethics and academic integrity among our faculty and students,” and urged the public “to show understanding and care for minors.”

Set up by Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, in 2018, the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition is a world-famous event that receives tens of thousands of entrants every year.

Only a few hundred reach the final, and the list is usually dominated by math students enrolled at the world’s top universities.

So, when the results of the preliminary round were announced in June and Jiang had placed 12th out of all the entrants, the story attracted massive attention on Chinese social media.

The academy added to the buzz by publishing a video profile of Jiang hailing her as a “genius” and highlighting her humble background, which quickly went viral on social media and sparked a flurry of media articles.

According to the video profile, Jiang had discovered a passion for math while pursuing her fashion design course at the vocational school. And her teacher, Wang, had reached the final of the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition for three consecutive years since 2022. Under Wang’s encouragement, Jiang began studying math in her spare time.

Following the announcement of the investigation results, Chinese media have issued pleas for Jiang to be treated with kindness, stressing that the story had spiraled out of control.

“The pressure of capital, the impact of online traffic, and (public) restlessness over education have all acted as ‘accomplices’ — they have created a turbulent and divisive wave of public opinion that has been difficult to navigate,” one outlet commented.

(Header image: VCG)