Youth Incorporated Magazine

A five-year-old Chinese boy’s 15-page CV has become the talk of the town of late, especially considering that he is just in kindergarten! According to reports, the elaborate CV is produced for an application to a highly competitive school.

Reports also claim that ‘Chen’ has read over 10,000 books in Chinese and English (as written in his CV), proving his ‘rich’ and ‘varied’ experience. The CV also boasts of his ‘independent personality’ and ‘wide variety of hobbies’. His top personality traits were listed as ”being creative, confident, curious, courageous, persevering, strong, kind and loving”.

His CV also contains a colour coded world map of all locations he has visited, a timetable of his weekly studies and activities, and photos of his homework, written in English and Cantonese. His achievements include not crying after vaccinations, immediately picking himself up after a fall, which he claims he has been doing since he was merely 6 months old. He also describes himself as ‘strong-willed’ and ‘able to handle defeat’.

Images of the CV were posted on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site, and have been subject to criticism, as it reflects the intense pressure put on Chinese children in their academics and careers. Some users even suggested that the boy’s parents are expecting too much from him at such a tender age.

However, some feel that the boy’s parents are toughening him up and preparing him for big things. Reportedly, private schools are very competitive and ‘tiger parents’ will do almost anything to keep their child in the game. ‘Tiger parenting’ calls for parents to be tough and rigorous in terms of academic achievements. A number of parents in Shanghai are following this trend of elaborate CVs for their kids, and graphic designers even have a special template for them.