Before I go too far into this, let me just say that I am Chinese (Han I believe, although unless there are some pretty complex DNA tests, who the hell knows). I have been doing a considerable amount of work in the greater China area of late so it is no surprise that a few interesting blogs from the area have found their way onto my RSS reader. Scanning through the Shanghaiist today, I came across an intriguing post “Armed to the teeth - Chinese cheaters go Hi-tech”

It appears that while China are quite adept at producing low cost high-tec gadgets, they are also equally as adept in cheating on exams. Forget about the cheat notes scribbled all over the upper part of your thighs and arms or taking those extra long visits to the toilet every 5 minutes, cheating has gone all 21st century with high-tech gadgets - all made in you guessed it, China!

Why does this not surprise me? All face and no real merit! I am surprised why the cheaters have even bothered spending all this time and money on the development of tools, for enough yuan the Liaoning province (in Chinese) suggests you could just buy the degree!
The China daily newspaper had this to report:

A student in Wuhan, capital of China’s central province of Hubei, used earphones so small that they slipped into his aural canal and perforated his eardrum, the newspaper said. Another student’s earphones required an operation for their removal, the paper said, while an electronic device connected to headphones and strapped to a third student’s body exploded, leaving a bleeding hole in his abdomen. Supervisors at an exam hall in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, found over 100 “cheating tools” including earphones hidden in vests, wallets and waistbands, the paper said.

Not that we at beezhouse (me especially) want to promote cheating, especially to the Chinese who may one day in a strange “Sliding Doors” kind of way be working with my company, but here is a report on all the methods. Sorry, it’s in Chinese again, so to a majority of our current readers, this probably makes no sense, but maybe an opportunity to test all those damn language translators floating around these days.

Whats really impressive though is the pair of glasses you see above. Supposedly, this Bond like peice of gadgetry contains a camera and is doubled sided (projection perhaps?). I think the public speaking courses could do with a tool like this for their students. Imagine the confidence you could have if you could prepare your speech and have it projected onto the inside of your glasses without anyone even knowing? What fear of public speaking?

It appears though, that these cheaters are themselves being cheated. Like all things electronic, a copy has now surfaced on the internet market place. So if anyone out there is currently holding one of these, I am sure all of us at beezhouse would be more than curious to see how this works. We are open to a sample in return for some shameless product awareness and advertising. Of course, our marketing angle would be the “public speaking tool”!

Wonder if these have surfaced in HK? I might be able to pick a pair up along Nathan Road when I am back next month. Will keep you posted, till then…Zaijian!