Once a year, the small town of Maotanchang in eastern China’s Anhui Province is in the spotlight as China’s national college entrance exam, or Gaokao in Chinese, is held in early June. /CFP
The Gaokao exam is an annual college extrance exam that all Chinese students must take to enroll. The exam lasts for two days, testing their Mandarin, math, English, sciences and history. The Gaokao is believed to be the most pressure-packed examinations in the world in terms of its numbers of participants and available positions. /CFP
Maotanchang Middle School and its sister school, Jin’an Middle School, got famous for its large student population and strict training skills. Students had nonstop lectures and mock exams every day from six in the morning till 11 at night. The qualification rate is over 80% in the school, which attracted students from other provinces to attend school in Maotanchang. /CFP
To support students who traveled here, the small town generated an industry providing food and living necessaries for students and their parents. In 2013, China Youth Daily first called the town China’s Largest Gaokao Factory and Gaokao Holy Land. /CFP
This year, nearly 100,000 students left Matanchang County, heading to the town to take the exam in two days. Students’ parents and local residents gathered along the street to cheer for them. /CFP
To maintain the order, police had to lead the way for the students' buses. /CFP
When buses drove away from the town, those in attendance all yelled cheerful slogans and waved flags passionately. /CFP
