"If you don't study, you'll end up like him"... a Tsinghua University security guard in China, once looked down on, is admitted to graduate school after eight attempts

Yang Xiao, a 31-year-old from Shenyang, was admitted to Tsinghua University’s graduate school after eight attempts.

He had spent years working low-wage jobs, including as a security guard and cleaner, while carrying heavy debt and repeated exam failures.

This year he finally passed Tsinghua’s admissions process and entered the university’s art and design graduate program.

The story has drawn attention in China as a rare example of persistence, resilience, and social mobility.