Online debate over photo of modestly-dressed academic

Sixty-seven-year-old Li Xiaowen is seen in the picture wearing Chinese black cotton shoes and no socks. Some people online compared Li Xiaowen to a classic character from Jin Yong's Kung Fu novels--a floor-sweeping monk that is generally silent and modest, but has amazing talent and matchless skills that are only shown when needed.

Since 2002, he has worked as part-time director of the CAS Institute of Remote Sensing Applications. He is also the incumbent vice-president of environmental resources and director of Beijing Normal University's Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Research Center.

A picture of a modestly-dressed elderly man conducting a lecture at the University of Chinese Academy in Beijing got thousands of comments and reposts on Renren.com, a Facebook-like social media website in China, on April 22, 2014.

Sixty-seven-year-old Li Xiaowen is seen in the picture wearing Chinese black cotton shoes and no socks. As proof that people shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the Sichuan native holds a bachelor degree from the Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering Department of Telecommunications, which he earned in 1968. He later went to the U.S. and received master's degrees in geography and remote sensing from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1981. Li eventually got his doctorate in 1985.

Since 2002, he has worked as part-time director of the CAS Institute of Remote Sensing Applications. He is also the incumbent vice-president of environmental resources and director of Beijing Normal University's Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Research Center.

Some people online compared Li Xiaowen to a classic character from Jin Yong's Kung Fu novels--a floor-sweeping monk that is generally silent and modest, but has amazing talent and matchless skills that are only shown when needed. Others expressed opposite opinions toward Li's appearance, saying "professors should be well-dressed for class."

In 2009, the Economic Observer referred to Li as a modest scientist. It also reported Li likes to drinks half a liter of Erguotou every day, a brand of cheap liquor with a 56-percent alcohol content.