Meet Chinese math genius Wei Dongyi: Two-time IMO gold medalist who lives on just $44 a month

Wei drew massive public attention when he made his social media debut on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, on June 4, 2025. His first post was a simple four-second clip in which he stood in front of a blackboard, wearing a striped shirt, and said: "Hello everyone, I'm Wei Dongyi. This is my account."

The video quickly attracted more than 13 million likes and over 23 million followers within five days, according to China News.

Wei, now 34, is an assistant professor at the School of Mathematical Sciences at Peking University. His family said the account was created with Wei’s consent and assistance from relatives to help him connect more effectively with fans. His cousin said that while Wei does not intend to live-stream, he hopes to share mathematical insights through the platform.

Chinese mathematician Wei Dongyi. Photo from Weibo

Early passion for Math

Wei was born into an academic family in Shandong province, eastern China. Both of his parents taught at Shandong Jianzhu University.

His father, Wei Zhongli, once served as deputy director of the university’s Institute of Science, was a member of the Shandong Mathematical Society, and received a national award recognizing outstanding educators, according to Chinese newspaper The Paper.

Wei’s fascination with mathematics was influenced by his home environment, which was filled with math books ranging from basic textbooks to advanced theoretical works. He stumbled across a mathematics book in first grade. After successfully solving the first problem, he discovered the joy of mathematical thinking and began treating it as a form of entertainment.

In a weekly diary assigned by his elementary school teacher, he once wrote about watching a frog from his balcony. "On the weekend I stood on the balcony and saw a frog jumping below. The path of its jumps looked like a hyperbolic spiral," he wrote.

At 14, while in eighth grade, Wei was selected by teacher Zhang Yonghua to join the mathematics Olympiad training team at Shandong Experimental High School. A year later, he was exempted from entrance exams and advanced directly into senior high school. "He had both sharp mathematical intuition and an extraordinary work ethic," Zhang later said.

During his secondary school years, Wei competed in the 49th and 50th International Mathematical Olympiads, achieving perfect scores and consecutive international gold medals, according to the South China Morning Post. Zhang told Qilu Evening News: "Compared to other competition participants, Wei’s love for mathematics borders on obsession."

When asked how many problems he had practiced to win the Olympiad gold medal, Wei said he had not solved a large number of exercises but was constantly thinking about problems. "Once I figure out the solution in my mind, there is no need to write it down," he said.

A classmate from high school said Wei is extremely sharp when it comes to math and has very strong logical thinking. "Everything he does follows logic. When classmates ask questions, he explains patiently, but he does not usually start conversations on his own."

Wei has created problem-solving methods that are often more concise than standard solutions. At the age of 18, he even formulated the "Wei Dongyi Inequality" system, which resolves fluid mechanics problems in a manner more concise than standard solutions.

Wei’s mathematical achievements led to his admission to Peking University without taking the gaokao, China’s national university entrance examination. During his university years, in one semester he served as a teaching assistant. A professor introduced him to students with a remark that later became widely known on campus. "This is your teaching assistant," the professor said. "If you cannot solve a problem, ask me. If I cannot solve it, ask the teaching assistant. If even the teaching assistant cannot solve it, then the problem must be wrong."

After earning his PhD in 2019, he joined the mathematics department at Peking University as an assistant professor.

Wei Dongyi in an interview in 2021. Photo from Weibo

Lives on less than $44 a month

Wei first gained widespread recognition in 2021 when an interview showed him wearing worn-out clothing, holding a water bottle and a plastic bag containing three steamed buns while wishing students good luck in the national university entrance exam.

In 2022, Wei solved a mathematical problem in one night that had stumped a team of six PhD mathematicians for four months. The team offered to pay him for his work to show their appreciation, but he rejected the offer.

"It’s unnecessary to pay me for such an easy problem."

Wei also turned down an offer from Harvard University to study as a PhD candidate, even though the school promised to waive his English competency test and provide him with an interpreter. "The application process is complicated, and my English is not very good," Wei explained.

Beyond his achievements in mathematics, Wei is also known for his unusually simple lifestyle.

He once said in an interview that aside from teaching and studying mathematics, he does not enjoy going online and prefers listening to the radio. He said he does not care about external comments and hopes not to be overly scrutinized or disturbed by the outside world.

He once received China’s prestigious Damo Academy Young Fellow Award, which came with prize money of one million yuan (US$140,000), but he did not attend the award ceremony and turned down the cash prize, according to Sina News.

Despite reportedly earning more than 600,000 yuan annually, Wei leads a frugal lifestyle and is said to spend less than 300 yuan ($43.7) a month in Beijing.

Fans have given him the nickname "God Wei" for the contrast between his extraordinary mathematical ability and his modest lifestyle. One observer wrote on Weibo: "His world consists only of numbers and formulas. For him, the internet, media, money, and appearances are all unimportant. This is a rare purity."