This May, a 13-year-old schoolboy who speaks and acts like a government official shot to overnight fame after Internet users latched on to his lack of childlike innocence and criticized the education system for the way he's turned out.

At the age of two, he demonstrated a strong interest in watching China Central Television's 7 pm news; at seven, he adopted the habit of reading the People's Daily newspaper. Now Huang Yibo, who comes from the city of Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, has published more than 100 articles in newspapers and magazines.

Huang's popularity started with a picture he posted on his microblog. In the picture, he is shown reading some documents, posing like a professional politician and wearing an astonishing "five-bar" armband. Internet users hence nicknamed him as "the five-bar youngster."

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".

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.

今年五月，一个言行举止颇有“官样”的13岁男孩一夜成名。在他身上看不到孩子的天真。网友们对此揪住不放，批评当今的教育体系成就了这样一个孩子。

两岁时，他就对中央电视台晚七点播出的《新闻联播》表现出了浓厚的兴趣；七岁时，他养成了读《人民日报》的习惯。如今，这个来自湖北省武汉市的男孩黄艺博已经在报刊上发表过100多篇文章。

黄艺博的名声源于他在微博上贴出的一张照片。照片中，他摆出专业的“官样”，正在阅读文件，胳膊上还戴着“五道杠”队牌，令人咋舌。网民们因此给了他一个绰号：“五道杠少年”。

在中国，小学生成为中国共产党领导的少年先锋队的队长后，就可以佩戴一种白色臂章，上面标着一道道红色的杠。两道杠表示身份是班长，三道杠一般就意味着该学生是年级干部，而黄艺博的五道杠表明他是中国少先队武汉市总队的队长。

复杂的情感反应

黄艺博在自己博客的前言里引用了先贤之语，表示自己有志于修身养性，渴望为人类做出贡献，并感到身负重任，要为中华民族的繁荣与稳定而奋斗。

他的母亲接受当地媒体采访时表示，黄艺博对历史和政治有着浓厚的兴趣，而且关心民生问题。

黄艺博受到了很多表扬，但也有人对他的成绩投来质疑的眼光。他们认为，这个孩子实际上是个受害者，因为他的父母将他们的雄心壮志强加在了孩子身上。