A flat in Beijing: Zhang made headlines in 2011 after demanding a 2-million-yuan ($280,000) apartment unit in Beijing from his parents before starting his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Beihang University,
according to
South China Morning Post. He even gave his parents an ultimatum that he would not pursue his Ph.D. and give up his master’s degree if they refused to buy him his apartment unit.
Despite Zhang's insistence, his parents compromised by renting him a "large flat" during his Ph.D. program instead of buying him one. Zhang claimed that his insistence on a flat stemmed from a belief that the majority of families in Beijing and Shanghai provided their children with a residence from birth.
"When I came to Beijing and Tianjin when I was 10 years old, I could feel the differences between me and the local kids strongly," Zhang said, according to
Mothership. "If you don't even have a house in Beijing, what use would the Ph.D. degree have?"