Journalism students at the Huanghe Science and Technology University in central China's Henan Province were in for a big surprise when they recently sat a Chinese literature. They were asked to prove they wrote a 16th-century novel based on their names, and re-imagine how a woman from the Tang Dynasty known for her beauty would make a living in today's world, among other puzzling questions. 

Zhang Caili, who teaches the course, divided her test into four parts, which included correcting ancient Chinese characters, filling the gaps, matching couplets, and answering four essay questions.

The essay questions were "not optional. All questions should be answered without any word limit. This is an open-ended test and students can even use their smart phones to look up information," Zhang explained in an interview with the Beijing Youth Daily.

Some of the head scratchers included: "Prove 'Journey to the West' is written by you based on your name,' 'State what job Yang Yuhuan, one of ancient China's famed Four Beauties, could be eligible for in this age' and 'Hold a banquet and invite characters from the 'Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (1740).'

The test would factor in the second-year students' final academic performance, but few were prepared for such an unconventional exam.

A student, named Chen Xu said everyone was taken by surprise and at a loss until the teacher provided some clues.

"The teacher asked us to apply our imagination to answer, and interesting answers are encouraged and will be scored higher," said Chen.

The students racked their brains to picture the scenes and even drew visuals from their imagination to help them navigate the exam.

Sun Hao, one of the examinees shared his answer to the question "Hold a banquet and invite characters from the 'Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'."

"I need to think whom I should invite and what I should offer at the banquet. I searched the Internet and then decided to invite Nie Xiaoqian, a beautiful female ghost, to a Zhengzhou-style meal because our school is right in Zhengzhou City," the Beijing Youth Daily cited Sun as saying.

After the test ended, students took to social media and shared the questions, stirring debate among netizens, with different versions of the answers emerging.

"I think this kind of questions can help develop students' critical thinking and avoid plagiarism. The questions also avoid rote learning," Weibo user @Kaoyanduizhang-JenlingJack commented.

"Just write down the name of Zhang Jinlai. You should get full scores," @Pangqi noted, implying that writing the name of the actor playing Sun Wukong the monkey king in "Journey to the West" will not go wrong.

However, some expressed opposition to this format, questioning the evaluation criteria and how to ensure the fairness of scoring.

Zhang said she'll take two measures into account when correcting the papers: The depth of students' understanding of the question, and the level of creativity of the answer. Each of the two indicators will be allotted five points.

"Students need to answer these questions based on the original work instead of the adapted TV series. Through their answers, [I] can see the students' understanding of Chinese literature," Zhang said.