More than 300 children applied to join a program for 30 gifted students in Beijing during the first two days of registration last week.

The program at the elite Beijing No 8 Middle School enables successful applicants, most of whom will be about 10 years old, to complete the year five to year 12 curriculum within four years.

Yang Zhihui, an 8-year-boy from Chaoyang district, went there alone last Saturday and pleaded to be allowed to apply, despite his age.

"The pace of learning is too slow at school," Yang said. "I want to be a fast growing person."

Yang was finally allowed to apply.

Many parents went to the application office on behalf of their children who were taking weekend classes.

Li Yanru, a 35-year-old resident from Haidian district, said she persuaded her 9-year-old son to apply to the program. Li said she was not sure if her son was a prodigy.

"I just find he is smarter than his peers," Li said. "The competition is extremely fierce, so we just want to have a try."

Successful applicants are chosen from three rounds of aptitude tests, according to Lin Zetian, a current student of the program.

Lin said the aptitude tests consist of Chinese, math and 'thinking'.

The tests are quite different from term tests at schools, because answers to many of the questions and tasks are not found in textbooks, Lin said.

The 'thinking' section is similar to an IQ test, according to Lin.

Only 60 applicants qualify for the third round of testing, a six-day trial program. Half of those who make it to the third round will be accepted to the program this year, according to a spokeswoman surnamed Wang.

About 1,300 children applied to the program last year and 30 were chosen, Wang said.

But some critics, in a story in the China Youth Daily, have questioned whether such intensive education programs have a negative impact on students' personal development in the long term.

Some students who have graduated from similar programs in other cities reportedly have trouble integrating in society and are sometimes unable to take care of themselves.

China Youth Daily cited the example of Xie Yanbo, who was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China as an 11-year-old, graduated easily and then got a job at the university, but later had a hard time because he was unable to get along with his colleagues.

But a research report by teachers of the gifted program at Beijing No 8 Middle School, says the program is beneficial for students in the long term.

More than 70 percent of the program's graduates proceeded to postgraduate university studies.

As many as 50 percent of the graduates have received, or are in the process of getting, master's degrees or doctoral degrees from abroad, according to the report.

Wang added that the program is well-rounded and includes physical education and nonacademic field trips, to keep from overburdening the students.

About 300 students have graduated from the program since it was established in 1985.

This year's program is open to children born between Sept 1, 1999 and Dec 31, 2000. Registration for application is at Beijing No 8 Middle School on weekends until May 9.