Actor puts spotlight on Peking University

ZHAI TIANLIN, an actor, has become the target of plagiarism allegations because he, having obtained a PhD at the Beijing Film Academy and been freshly enrolled by Peking University for postdoctoral research, was found to not know about the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), a Chinese database of academic resources. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

To anyone who has ever written an academic essay in the Chinese language, Zhai not knowing about CNKI is as absurd as a self-claimed chemist not knowing the periodic table of elements. CNKI is an online platform that allows students and scholars to search for academic articles and papers published in China, and read the materials they need for their dissertations at their college libraries' expense. Unless a student claims an exception, their dissertation will be included as reference for other researchers.

The allegations against Zhai have naturally stirred up a hornet's nest of opinions online. By Tuesday morning, at least nine hashtags about the incident had appeared on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter. Added together, these hashtags have been read 3.9 billion times in all.