Photo: Sina Weibo

A candidate who was rejected by Nanjing University supposedly for torturing cats was once again caught in a storm of public opinion and sparked heated discussion after he recently applied for a transfer to Lanzhou University.

The candidate, surnamed Xu, had scored the highest among all the candidates in the written exams for the professional courses of the major which he applied for at Nanjing University. However, he failed to pass the interview component of the postgraduate entrance exam after netizens exposed online that he had allegedly engaged in torturing cats.

According to media reports, Xu had intended to apply for the postgraduate studies of the particle physics and nuclear physics major at the School of Physics, Nanjing University in Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu Province. His total score of the first and second rounds of exams ranked the first among all the candidates applying for this major. However, he was marked as failing the second-round exam, according to the announcement of the candidates’ exam results issued by the university.

Before the exam results were announced, several netizens filed complaints to the university that Xu had serious character issues and have filmed himself torturing cats at his university dormitory at the School of Civil Engineering of Southeast University where he finished his undergraduate studies. Netizens said that he also joined an online group who abuse cats for fun.

In response to public concern, the local public security bureau in Nanjing said that they had spoken with Xu and his family members. Xu confessed his wrongdoing and wrote a letter of repentance, promising not to engage in this behavior in the future.

A faculty member of Nanjing University said on April 3 that Xu failed the second-round exam, noting that the university applies comprehensive criteria when it comes to enrollment and Xu’s cat-abusing behavior could also have some impact on the university’s assessment. According to a university employee, the Graduate School of Nanjing University received several complaints about this candidate’s cat-abusing behavior.

After Xu failed the Nanjing University enrollment, he recently appeared on the list of candidates who applied for a transfer to the postgraduate studies at Lanzhou University in Northwest China’s Gansu Province, and qualified for the second-round exam.
According to an announcement released by the School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, second-round exam for postgraduate candidates of particle physics and nuclear physics and atomic and molecular physics majors took place on Monday morning.

Many netizens left messages on the official Weibo account of Lanzhou University to suggest that the university maintain appropriate standards for postgraduate enrollment, with many saying that candidates with moral issues should not be enrolled in any course.

As a result, the postgraduate admission office of Lanzhou University told the Red Star News that they received online advices about Xu and they would take this into account when assessing the candidate.

A Red Star News journalist came across Xu at the School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University on Sunday afternoon. However, Xu declined an interview request by the Chengdu-based news portal.

On Monday morning, Xu appeared on the campus of the Lanzhou University to participate in the interview component of the postgraduate entrance exam. When he finished the interview at around 11 am, he told the Red Star News that if he failed the interview, he would not be qualified for the ideological and political assessment component of the exam scheduled on Monday afternoon.

Red Star News learned from other candidates that only those who passed the interview would receive a text message from the university authorities to sit the ideological and political assessment set to take place at 3:30 pm on Monday.

However, Xu did not show up at the campus by the time when the assessment began, suggesting that he might not have passed the interview.

Another candidate who sat the ideological and political assessment told Red Star News that Xu was not present in the examination room.

Global Times