Gaokao: The shared memories of Chinese students

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China's National College Entrance Examination known as the Gaokao in Chinese is an academic examination for entrance into colleges and universities. The annual exam is a grand event for students that has over four decades of history.

In October 1977, more than 5.7 million students of different ages and backgrounds took part in the college entrance examination. Since then, the resumption of the college entrance examination system played a prelude to the reform and opening up, affecting and changing the fate of several generations.

Students taking the exams in 1977. /VCG File Photo‍

The Ministry of Education has released the number of applicants for this year's Gaokao. According to data, the number of applicants in 2019 reached 10.31 million.

Almost all students in China spend their entire study career preparing for it. At this time of year, the whole of society pays close attention to it. Under the topic of “Gaokao”, there are over 50 million netizens take part in discussions on Weibo.

Sure there are pressures, but looking back on that hard time, the days that we focus on one goal together becomes precious.

Students preparing for "Gaokao". /VCG File Photo

The countdown board is one of the shared memories.

The countdown board is hung in almost every senior high school classroom in China. It was this small board that recorded the students' hard work day after day.

“I remembered to place a countdown board in my room when I was a student. It reminds me of the days left for the Gaokao. It urged me to study hard,” recalled a netizen on Weibo.

Students preparing for "Gaokao" with countdowns written on the blackboard. /VCG File Photo

Besides the board, stacks of exercise books are also a must-have for students preparing for the Gaokao”. It is a classic image to see students studying behind a pile of books.

Wide varieties of textbooks and exercise books can be found in book stores, some of them are so popular that they have become a “Cheat book” for students. Some even keep them after the exam is done since those dense notes in those books are witnesses to the hard work put into their studies.

But not all the precious memories are made in classrooms.

Parents waiting outside a school in Beijing. /VCG File Photo

The extra care given by parents is also a special treatment for examinees. In China, errands for Gaokao students are a family's top priority.

Mothers will carefully prepare each meal to make sure the food is rich in nutrition, TVs and videos are muted when students are at home and studying.

Many parents will wait outside schools holding a bouquet of flowers to celebrate the big event once the exams are finished.

In fact, the whole of society takes this grand examination very seriously.

Traffic police take a student to the examinations in Lanzhou, China. /VCG File Photo

During the Gaokao period, traffic police will be stationed near schools to ensure there are no traffic jams. Vehicles also consciously do not honk near schools.

There are many taxi drivers volunteer to take students to schools on the examination days.

Perhaps the Gaokao is the one and only period of time in life that someone can work so hard with so many other people, all together. As anyone who has ever taken the exams knows, it is definitely an unforgettable experience.

( Top image designer: Sa Ren. )