Is "what is a Turing machine?" a good question to evaluate Chinese computer science students?

I think it's a good question to ask. As stated by , to succeed in the education system of China today still relies heavily on recite and rote memorization. But, as a result, most students will totally forget what they learned from the course after exam. Successfully answering this question is a good indicator of his general knowledge and interest in computer science. But I think you don't just test his memorization of the definition of a Turning Machine, you might also ask question like why Turning Machine is an important concept.

Based on my own experience this is certainly a good question, because most Chinese universities do not teach "Turing machine" in bachelor phase. If the applicant knows this, means he or she did do some extra research. And that's a valuable ability for a master education. I would also want to let them summarize the knowledge they've learned so far and their outlook for the master phase. This could reflect their own understanding of what "computer science major" was and will be. Besides maths scores, I think the ability to retrieve, process and express information clearly is important for a successful master degree.

A well read computer science student should have an idea how the Turing machine works along with basic knowledge of esoteric topics like Von Neumann architecture, Donald Knuth, Fortran etc.