Chinese professor discovers boy reading the book “Murphy’s Law” on the train and urges him to attend an elite university

A seven-year-old boy reading about a subject far beyond his age group on a crowded train in China was discovered by a professor at Peking University who invited him to visit the institution.

The boy, whose identity has not yet been established, was sitting on the floor, deeply engrossed in a book entitled: Murphys Lawa psychological text famous for the saying “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

The book outlines a number of psychological and sociological principles.

He caught the attention of another passenger, Zhao Baisheng, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of World Literature, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University.

Zhao was impressed by the boy’s concentration and what he was reading and started a conversation.

“What grade are you in, little boy?” asked Zhao.

“He’s moving from first to second grade soon,” replied the boy’s mother, who was standing nearby.

“This is impressive. I have to learn from you,” Zhao said.

Zhao discussed educational issues with the boy’s mother and then invited her to visit Peking University.

“The little boy was excited when he heard that my mentor was a professor at Peking University,” recalls a student who was with Professor Zhao at the time and told the story on Douyin.

Unfortunately, the boy’s family was only visiting Beijing from their hometown in northern China’s Hebei province for four days and did not have time to go to the university.

“I hope that my child will meet the professor through his own efforts,” said the mother, who encourages her son to study hard so that he can get a place at Peking University.

The story received a great response on the Internet.

“The child will surely be inspired and will try harder. A ray of light has illuminated him and shown him the way,” said one online observer.

“Such positive, intangible leadership has great power. Perhaps in many years the little boy will come to Peking University with his enrollment letter,” said another person.

Others criticized the inaccurate reporting of some mainland media.

After the video was posted on Douyin, some media claimed that a Peking University professor had “recruited a student” on the subway, sparking controversy online.

On July 3, Zhao clarified to mainland news channel Hongxing News that it was not a “recruitment” and stressed that he was simply inspired by the child and wanted to encourage him.