Actor’s plagiarism scandal sparks online search for more anomalies
A Chinese actor’s plagiarism scandal has deepened as angry netizens start to look for more dirt from his professors at his alma mater, the Beijing Film Academy (BFA).
Chinese actor Zhai Tianlin, who graduated from BFA with a PhD last summer, was found to have submitted a paper that was 40 percent plagiarized after he posted an admissions letter on Sina Weibo for a postdoctoral position at Peking University. Zhai also appeared ignorant of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CKNI), a well-known Chinese database of academic literature, in a live broadcast last August.
BFA launched an investigation into Zhai’s academic integrity on Monday, according to Beijing Youth Daily. Peking University also announced Monday that it will wait for the results of the BFA investigation before deciding if its offer to Zhai will remain.
The scandal failed to subside as netizens decried not only academic fraud but also what they call “a plaguing woe of academic corruption” where some renowned Chinese higher institutes open a “backdoor” to those who are powerful or rich.
Netizens have since begun to dig up a number of other issues on professors linked to Zhai. They’ve raised doubts about Zhai’s PhD adviser Chen Yi whose CV on the school’s website shows he only holds a bachelor’s degree but is tasked with tutoring PhD students.
Netizens have also disparaged Zhang Hui, the head of BFA’s performance institute, who married one of his students 24 years his junior.
Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow at the National Institute of Education Sciences, noted that allegation of plagiarism against Zhai has struck a nerve. Many people believe an academic degree is an arduous quest, but people with power and fame can be conferred such honor without putting in the work.
Some higher education institutions have a record of conferral degrees that were not legitimately earned. “Many such ‘PhDs’ are in high positions in government or industry,” Chu told the Global Times on Wednesday.