An Oxford University PhD student has spoken out after she received widespread accusations online that she must have faked her degree based on her appearance.
Earlier this year, Kate Wenqi Zhu completed her second Masters degree - a PhD in Mathematics - in one of the top universities in the world.
However, the 28-year-old's academic success was tainted after she posted a video of herself receiving her degree online on Chinese microblogging website Weibo.
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Social media users on the platform accused Zhu of having faked her degree, arguing she was 'too beautiful' to be able to have attained it.
Zhu not only managed to achieve a PhD in Mathematics at Oxford University, but the 28-year-old had also achieved the highest marks across her course, South China Morning Post reports.
But alas, Zhu's PhD was an achievement that many social media users refused to believe, judging Zhu off the basis of her looks - claiming that the postgraduate not looking like a 'typical top student'.
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"Judging from her videos and the showing-off style posts she wrote, I can tell that she is actually a WeChat businesswoman selling things. She established an image as a beautiful academic elite to attract an audience," one user accused.
Another wrote: "I’ve never heard her department’s name. Next time, when you fake something, could you please be professional?"
Zhu's graduation video was viewed over 160 million times, but received fierce criticism and on 20 December, she finally decided to respond.
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Zhu told followers she had been trying to keep busy and distract herself from the online attacks she had been facing off the back of her graduation video and that, despite some of the nasty comments, she had 'received plenty of encouragement and sincerity' too.
Since posting the video, she said that she's 'experienced many emotions over the past half year'.
Adding: "Does releasing one’s selfies mean the person is poor at studying? It’s time to break this stereotype. I just want to say that as long as the stereotype exists, it should be slapped.[...] What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"
Zhu even solved a maths problem sent to her by a user who claimed to be a university maths lecturer - shooting him down by solving it in 'one hour' according to reports.
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The postgraduate student's name is also listed on the University of Oxford's Mathematical Institute's page.
According to Zhu's LinkedIn page, she has achieved a Master's Degree in Mathematics, a First Class MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing, as well as a PhD in Mathematics.
Zhu also says she 'had the opportunity to gain practical industry experience in finance by working in Goldman Sachs’ Investment Management team and J.P. Morgan’s Asset Management team'.
Featured Image Credit: Weibo/LinkedInTopics: UK News, Education, World News