A practice deemed "almost" acceptable in the mainland among elites. People tell "for somebody already so high rank, merely buying a university degree is not really cheating"
I once had an argument over this 9 years ago with Chinese peers. The conversation came to "Maybe, if he was given a degree, and job even without a ghostwriter, then it may have been said he jumped the line."
It's problem with these people who genuinely believe that rank, and status is a license to violate things, and that is the reason to get it.
Out of all Westernised mainlanders exposed to overseas, or even out of the few who spent some years abroad, almost nobody gets past the superficial in understanding the world outside China. They are really a minority, among the minority.
If you watch `donghua` (Chinese anime) you can see the same logic all around. Status is a license to violate things. It's funny how pervasive it is.
Xi Jinping studied chemical engineering. Zhu Rongji studied electrical engineering.
Xi is the only exception among them. Xi got in college without _any_ tests, purely because he has a powerful father then. It's said he could not understand a thing taught and there is no way he could graduate(or admitted). Indeed it's unimaginable for a 6th grader to take calculus in the top universities all of a sudden.
Xi even said he has a PhD degree, it's so laughable he had to remove that claim himself.
Top notch private tutoring and some work ethic can work wonders in fairly short periods of time.
Corruption is certainly possible, but not the only conceivable possibility.
His powerful father made him a target during cultural revolution
It's only become more obvious in the covid environment.
Now I can.
[1]: This is actually very accurate to how people get angry in China, I've seen teachers, businessmen, even customers, rage in this characteristic weirdly macho way. https://youtu.be/aCdFec3uu_g
In what culture is this considered "macho"? He's acting like a little spoiled brat.
China sure has a lot of empty very loud barrels.
The "Red Guards" (i.e. culture revolution) generation from China indeed stood out as a group that acts very differently. They are always ready to _fight_ with anyone just because of different opinions, thus the aggressiveness. It's a life long disease that keeps getting worse with no cure.
Xi himself did not even finish middle school, his professional skill is the worst comparing to his past peers, he could not even read correctly many times in public since he came in power.