(XINHUA)

Zhou Qifeng, President of Peking University, kneeled down before his mother to show his respect on her 90th birthday in Liuyang, Hunan Province, on July 14. Photos on the Internet show the two embracing each other and bursting into tears. Many were touched by Zhou's love for his mother, but others were not so easily moved by the display. Some Internet users accused Zhou of using his mother as a tool to deliberately show his filial love in order to gain publicity.

Zhou's father died when he was young, and it was his mother who brought him up and provided financial support for his schooling through strenuous farm work.

Zhou was born in October 1947 in Liuyang. He received his bachelor's degree from Peking University in 1970 and his doctor's degree from Massachusetts University in 1983. He became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999. He was appointed president of Peking University in November 2008.