The CEO of a Chinese civil servant recruitment exam coaching company recently lost control of his emotions during a speech at Renmin University of China, calling those taking the civil service exam 'idlers waiting for death.' He has since issued a public apology.
Multiple media reports on the 5th stated that the company, Fenbi Technology Co., Ltd., primarily offers training for civil service exams, public institution recruitment exams, and teacher recruitment exams.
Fenbi Technology founder and CEO Zhang Xiaolong was invited on the 3rd to give a lecture at the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China. The topic was about taking the civil service exam (commonly known as 'Kao Gong' in China), but he changed it last minute to share his insights on 'trading US stocks with AI'.
During the sharing session, Zhang Xiaolong discussed current employment pressures, the development of AI, and introduced what he believed to be the most promising employment direction for the future: stock trading.
He said: 'It’s best to speculate in tech stocks, even better to speculate in US stocks, and even better if you trade stocks with your entire family.'
He also said that he invested 80 million yuan (RMB) in stocks last month and earned 53 million yuan.
During the event, seemingly due to the lukewarm response from students, Zhang Xiaolong suddenly lost his temper, hurled expletives at students for several minutes, harshly criticized them by saying 'No wonder you can’t find jobs', and added that taking the civil service exam was just 'idling away waiting for death', before storming off.
On the 4th, Zhang Xiaolong issued a public letter of apology for his actions, saying he 'lost control for a moment' and 'hopes everyone can just treat me as a mad dog and let it go.'
He said that in his speech he emphasized the severity of the employment situation and the importance of job information. 'The current situation is that the number of job openings is decreasing, while the number of applicants keeps increasing, so the chances of landing a government job are significantly dropping.' He hopes everyone does not just focus on working within the system.
According to online information, Zhang Xiaolong entered Sun Yat-sen University’s Department of Philosophy after his undergraduate studies. In 2006, as income from training became more lucrative, he gave up on pursuing a PhD and left school before graduation to enter the civil service exam training industry as an instructor.