until Wu learned how to read. She left her hometown in 1923 at the age of 10 to go to the Suzhou Women's Normal School No. 2, which was fifty miles from her home. This was a boarding school with classes for teacher training as well as for regular high school, and it introduced subjects in science that slowly became a growing passion for the young Wu. Admission to teacher training was more competitive, as it did not charge for tuition or board and guaranteed a job on graduation. Although her family could have afforded to pay, Wu chose the more competitive option and was ranked ninth among around 10,000 applicants. In 1929, Wu graduated at the top of her class and was admitted to National Central University in Nanjing. According to government regulations of the time, teacher-training college students wanting to move on to universities needed to serve as schoolteachers for one year. In Wu's case, this was only nominally enforced. She went to teach at a public school in Shanghai, the president of which was the famous philosopher Hu Shih. Hu became a very notable political icon whom Wu saw as a second father and would visit Wu when she was in the United States. Hu was previously Wu's teacher when she took a few courses at National China College and was quickly impressed after Wu, who sat in the front seat to be noticed by her hero, finished and perfected the first three-hour assessment in less than two hours. Her elders advised her to "ignore the obstacles." This was similar to what her father always reiterated to her, "Just put your head down and keep walking forward." Although Wu ended up doing scientific research, her writing was considered outstanding thanks to her early training. Her Chinese calligraphy was praised by others. Before matriculating to National Central University Wu spent the summer preparing for her studies with her usual full force. She felt that her background and training in Suzhou Women's Normal School were insufficient to prepare her for majoring in science. Her father encouraged her to plunge ahead, and bought her three books for her self-study that summer: trigonometry, algebra, and geometry. This experience was the beginning of her habit of self-study, and it gave her sufficient confidence to major in mathematics in the fall of 1930. From 1930 to 1934, Wu studied at National Central University