If Xu Yuan had been registered in Beijing or Shanghai, his college entrance exam score would have easily gotten him into a top-tier university. Unfortunately, he was born in a province with fierce competition for exam places.
He could only get into a second-tier university.
Unwilling to accept this, Xu Yuan posts online, suggesting that the students and parents in these highly competitive provinces pool their money to establish their own university. The idea resonates widely with students and parents across the four provinces known as Shanhe.
Then the [University System awakens], and actually rewards him with a university.
Xu Yuan becomes its president and names it Shanhe University!
Tsinghua and Peking University: "Our students aren't going abroad to study anymore? They're going to Shanhe University for postgraduate recommendations?"
Shandong University: "Hey, bro, come to our school! We'll give you hundreds of thousands in subsidies, and even have pretty female students keep you company while you study. What? You insist on going to Shanhe University to study engineering? But they won't even admit you."
MIT: "What? We're still researching how to send people to Mars, while Shanhe University has already built a warp drive and taken its students on a sightseeing trip beyond the Milky Way?"