You Couldn't Get into College, So How Did You Make Nuclear Fusion?

“Our family has always valued scholarship. You only have a college diploma, which puts you behind others and could even affect your relationships and career. You must get a bachelor’s degree as soon as possible to make up for this shortcoming.”

After this lecture about education, an apparently absurd question quietly went viral online: “If I successfully develop controlled nuclear fusion, can I smoothly upgrade from a college diploma to a bachelor’s degree?”

The question quickly sparked heated discussion and jokes among netizens.

But just as the debate was taking off, a major announcement from the Academy of Sciences overturned everyone’s assumptions: Tang Zhengyu, a vocational college graduate, had led the effort to crack the core technology behind controlled nuclear fusion and successfully brought the project to completion.

Once the news broke, the internet fell silent. As more details gradually came to light, people learned that Tang Zhengyu was not only chief engineer of the controlled nuclear fusion project, but also chief engineer of two other major projects: the planetary engine and orbital attitude control.

After this astonishing résumé was revealed, netizens marveled: “You’re holding top-tier national research achievements and serving as chief engineer on several major projects, and yet you’re asking us whether you can get a bachelor’s degree?”