Bentley or Porsche? Chinese boy, 11, delights social media with school essay about buying RM1.93mil luxury car by age 18

An essay by an 11-year-old primary school student in China in which he asked how he can earn enough money to buy a 3mil yuan (RM1.93mil or US$415,000) Bentley has delighted mainland social media.

The boy, surnamed Fu, started his story with a question: “Recently, I’ve been thinking that we need money for everything in our lives. I dream of buying a Bentley, but it costs three to four million yuan. How can I achieve my dream?”

From Zhejiang province in eastern China, the boy wrote the essay to complete a weekly assignment about his thoughts and activities, according to City Express.

The youngster also set an ambitious goal of making the money before turning 18, the age when he can secure a driving licence in China.

“I have seven years before I turn 18. What can I do in that time to make the money?” he wrote.

The boy then made some suggestions, which often fell short of the goal.

“If I save 100 yuan (RM64 or US$14) every day, I will have tens of thousands of yuan in seven years, which is not even close to the cost of a Bentley,” he wrote.

He said he can work part-time for his family after he turns 18, also making it impossible to make money before the self-imposed deadline, adding that a 10-yuan reward from his parents for high test scores would be insufficient.

“I will receive the yearly lai see (lucky money) from my parents and grandparents for the next couple of years. If I do not spend anything, I think I will have accumulated just 300,000 yuan (RM193,109 or US$41,000),” the boy wrote in his essay.

He concluded that he was unlikely to make the 18-year-old deadline because buying a Bentley would require a stable job and monthly salary, and he probably could not save enough until he was in his 50s.

“I am afraid I won’t be able to realise my dream, so I will have to adjust it and buy a Porsche for one million yuan (RM643,920) instead,” he concluded.

The article went viral online after a teacher, surnamed Wang, shared it on social media.

The boy’s mother said his father likes cars and shared the hobby with their son.

“The Lego toys my boy played with were all cars. There are many luxury cars in the garages of our residential community, and when we pass them he often says that he’d like to save money to buy a car in the future,” his mother was quoted as saying.

The teacher said she was concerned about the materialistic nature of the boy’s dream.

Stories of children dreaming big often catch the attention of the mainland public.

Last year, a primary school student in central Hubei province said he wanted to sail an aircraft carrier when he grew up.

By contrast, one of his classmates said her dream was to retrieve China’s missing cultural heritage artefacts from overseas. – South China Morning Post