Gifted program gives head start to top students

HEFEI - At age four, Ji Tingqiao could remember the names of all the bones of a skeleton. In primary school, he could understand heavy ancient Chinese classics. At 15, this September, he started university.

Across China, gifted students over the past 40 years have been enrolled in a special program set up in the University of Science and Technology of China.

In 1978, the university initiated a program called the "Special Class for the Gifted Young," or the "Junior Class," offering young prodigies the opportunity to skip a few years of high school and get an early start in college.