The vice head of an Autonomous County in Chongqing Municipality has admitted that the ethnic identity of his daughter was changed from Han to Tujia minority before this year's university entrance examination in order to get 20 bonus points.

Tang Ping, vice head of the Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County admitted this to the Chengdu Commercial News on Thursday.

Tang told the newspaper he had restored his daughter's Han nationality after realizing the mistake.

His daughter, Tang Ruiman is now entitled to five bonus points in the examination for living in a minority area.

According to the policy, a Han nationality student who lives in a minority area or a minority student who lives in areas inhabited mainly by Han people, can get five bonus points. But a minority student living in a minority area can get 20 bonus points in the university entrance examination.

Tang promised to withdraw the application for the 20 bonus points. His staff had applied for it with good intentions, Tang told the newspaper and insisted he had not known of it beforehand.

Thirty-one students from six schools in Chongqing were discovered submitting false minority identities in this year's university entrance examination. Their names have not been published.

Some netizens said 19 students out of the 31 came from Wushan County. An official with the county's education administration did not deny the claim, according to the newspaper.

"Most parents have withdrawn the 20 bonus points applications," a county official told the newspaper. But he did not say how many.

(Shanghai Daily June 26, 2009)