Immigration police say they caught the son of a college president entering the country with a fake passport last week - allegedly to gain bonus points on the upcoming college entrance exam - but neither the boy, nor his father will face any criminal charges.

Police at Pudong International Airport discovered the young man, who they would only identify by the surname He, using the passport when he entered the city from an unnamed Asian country with his father on May 31.

They allege his father, the president of a two-year college in Henan Province, bought the fake passport for his son so he could pretend to be an overseas Chinese, which would earn him eight bonus points on the national exam.

Police wouldn't give the father's name, or say which college he worked at, saying they wanted to protect the son.

They didn't lay charges against the boy for entering the country with an illegal passport, or report the situation to education authorities in Henan. They did fine the pair an undisclosed amount, however.

The father allegedly told police he wanted his son to be treated as a returned overseas Chinese student when writing the exam, to earn bonus points. A top score is 750, but even one extra point can mean the difference between going to a top school or a lesser college.

Xiong Bingqi, a professor and education critic at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said the best way to stop cheating is to stop treating overseas students differently.

(Shanghai Daily June 7, 2006)