Fluid mechanics and the art of rap

Like many of his fellow vehicle engineering students preoccupied with head-scratchingly difficult issues such as fluid mechanics and writing theses, Duo Lei strove mightily to adapt to his new surroundings in his first year as a college student.

That was in 2015, when Duo, born and raised in the city of Yining, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, moved to Beijing to study at the prestigious Tsinghua University. Majoring in vehicle engineering, he was the top scorer in science in the national college entrance examination of Xinjiang that year.

In addition to his academic prowess, something else set Duo apart. Away from textbooks, he devoted what little spare time he had to his great passion for hip-hop music, and in summer last year, aged 21, he decided to try to get others at Tsinghua in on the act by setting up a hip-hop fraternity.