47-year-old mainland Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming, who applied for the doctoral program at the Shanghai Theatre Academy this year, entered the second round of interviews with the second highest score. However, the list of expected admissions released by the official on June 20 did not have Huang Xiaoming’s name on it. Instantly, the topic of “Huang Xiaoming falling short in the doctoral entrance exam” became a hot search item. In response to this, Huang Xiaoming said he will “fight again next year,” receiving a lot of encouragement from netizens.
On June 20, the Shanghai Theatre Academy released the list of 32 expected admissions for the 2025 doctoral candidates. The list showed that three people were expected to be admitted in the “Directing and Playwriting” direction. Of particular note, Jin Shijia, who had previously entered the second round of interviews along with Huang Xiaoming, scored 94.34 points in one subject, 90 points in another subject, and 94.5 points in the interview, with a total score of 278.84.
On May 12, the official website of the Shanghai Theatre Academy released the list of candidates for the 2025 doctoral program (application-assessment system). Both Huang Xiaoming and Jin Shijia were on this list. Huang Xiaoming applied for the research direction of “Art Management/Drama Planning”, while Jin Shijia applied for the research direction of “Directing and Playwriting”. Both had “Equivalent Academic Qualifications Test” noted in the remarks column, indicating that they had passed the initial examination for their respective research directions. It was confirmed by the media at the time that the two individuals on the list, Huang Xiaoming and Jin Shijia, were indeed the familiar actors.
In the latest list of expected admissions, Huang Xiaoming, who applied for the professional degree in “Art Management/Drama Planning”, did not appear in the expected admissions list. The list showed that only one person was admitted in that specialty.
Regarding the rejection, Huang Xiaoming responded by saying he will “fight again next year,” quickly becoming a hot topic.
As for why Huang Xiaoming’s “failure in the doctoral entrance exam” has become a focus of public opinion, some analysts point out that on one hand, stars naturally have a lot of attention, and on the other hand, this “failure” carries weight. Some netizens even said, “Many people take shortcuts, having a celebrity fail proves that there is no cheating” and “Maybe the Academy wants to prove that the admissions are fair, so even big stars cannot take shortcuts.”
Some “informants” revealed the reason for Huang Xiaoming’s failure in the exam: “It turns out, during the exam period, Huang Xiaoming happened to be in Africa recording the ninth season of the variety show ‘Chinese Restaurant’. Due to the time difference and the pressure of being the manager while recording, he allocated all his time to ‘Chinese Restaurant’,” and also mentioned, “Actually, this is not the first time Huang Xiaoming has had scheduling conflicts, but he has never taken time off due to scheduling conflicts.”
Some people went further to suggest that Huang Xiaoming’s failure in the exam is related to Ye Ke as well, claiming that “When Huang Xiaoming was recording ‘Chinese Restaurant’, Ye Ke had shown happiness. At that time, Ye Ke had not retired from the internet. Wherever Huang Xiaoming went, Ye Ke followed closely. This shows that Huang Xiaoming’s schedule conflicts are one thing, being busy in love is another.”
In fact, in recent years, public attention to academic fairness and transparent admissions has been increasing, from the scandal of male star Zhai Tianlin, who claimed a false academic title, to the current investigation into Nernaxi’s targeted training controversy.
Earlier this month, 35-year-old mainland Chinese actress Nernaxi triggered public opinion with issues related to “College Entrance Exam Immigration” and occupying targeted training quotas.
It was revealed by some netizens that in 2008, Nernaxi entered the Shanghai Theatre Academy through the Inner Mongolia targeted training policy, enjoying the benefits of reduced admission scores and “graduation job allocation” but did not fulfill the agreement to return to Inner Mongolia for work as required, instead violated the contract by going abroad for further studies, returning three years later to work as an assistant in the Performance Department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, performing with a famous director and experienced actors. From the heroic Dang Chanyu in “The Gods 2” to Amida in “The Lychees of Chang’an,” Nernaxi has recently gained fame in her roles within the shows, despite facing challenges in real life.
The issue arose when, during the college entrance exam, Nernaxi sent blessings to the candidates through a video, but was reported by netizens for suspected college entrance exam fraud. An interview recording from 2023 emerged where Nernaxi admitted herself as a targeted training student, admitting she could have directly entered a theater troupe upon graduation but broke the contract unilaterally because she “just wanted to go abroad for a while.” It was mentioned that her father worked in CCTV, leading to the incident quickly escalating, and the official media promptly deleted her video of college entrance exam blessings.
Public records show that Huang Xiaoming, who graduated from the Performance Department of the Beijing Film Academy, gained attention for his role as Liu Che in “Han Emperor.” He has also appeared in multiple film and television works like “The Condor Heroes” series, “New Shanghai Bund,” “The Great Hypnotist,” and “Nirvana in Fire,” winning several awards such as the Huabiao Award, Golden Rooster Award, and Hundred Flowers Award. Despite the media’s focus on him “failing the doctoral entrance exam,” Huang Xiaoming did not show signs of disappointment and responded optimistically with “fight again next year,” with many netizens cheering him on.