At the age of two, he demonstrated a strong interest in watching China's Central Television news; at seven, he adopted the habit of reading the People's Daily newspaper. Now Huang Yibo, 13, has published more than 100 articles in newspapers and magazines.

Huang, who comes from the city of Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, has recently been hailed as a political prodigy by Chinese netizens, stirring up a mixture of praise, doubt and satire.

Huang's popularity started with a picture he posted on his microblog last week. In the picture, he is shown reading some documents, posing like a professional politician and wearing an astonishing "five-bar" armband.

Chinese primary school students wear white armbands with red bars to acknowledge their positions as "young pioneers" for the Communist Party. Two bars indicate that a student is a class monitor, three strokes normally mean that the student is a grade-level leader. Huang's five-bar armband indicates that he is the chief of Wuhan's "young pioneers".

Huang's five-bar armband, his prudent gaze and zeal for politics have amazed Internet users and given his microblog more than one million hits in just a few days.

Huang Yibo

MIXED FEELINGS

In the introduction to his blog, Huang writes that he is focused on cultivating his moral discipline, aspires to contribute to humankind and feels responsible for bringing prosperity and stability to the Chinese nation.

Huang's mother told local media that the boy has a great interest in history and politics and that he cares about the livelihood of the Chinese people.

Although Huang has been praised by many, others have cast a doubtful sight on his accomplishments, saying that the child is actually a victim of his parents' own overbearing ambition.

A netizen named "Rosa rubus in the moonlight" believes that Huang's behavior and mentality are not natural for a boy of his age.

"It's sad that the boy has lost the innocence that is consistent with his age. It is unnatural and harmful to the development of the boy's personality. Either his parents or society should take the blame for this." the netizen wrote.

Hu Yinbin, another netizen, says that Huang is a lonely and misunderstood genius, and that people should not judge him with their own understanding of what an ordinary 13-year-old child should be like.