For Survivors of a 9-Hour Chinese Exam, a Door Opens to America
Every June, millions of high school seniors in China sit down for a grueling university entrance exam, knowing they may not get into a top school or any school at all. If their results are disappointing, finding another route to university can...
Inspirational Vandalism, Theme Parks, and the Man Who Swam to Hong Kong
from Yuanjin PhotoThis month, five photo galleries explore different aspects of public and private space in contemporary China. Wu Yue meets a couple who swam to Hong Kong from Guangzhou during the Cultural Revolution and still find solace in the waters of Hong...
Is China's Gaokao The World's Toughest School Exam?
Chinese children must endure years of stress and impossible expectations preparing for their final school exam
Tornados and Drag Queens
from Yuanjin PhotoBeing a photojournalist involves reacting to breaking news, a dedication to long-term projects, and everything in between. This month’s showcase of work by Chinese photographers published in Chinese media underscores this range of angles: from...
In China, Cheating on an Exam Will Get Students Detention—in Prison
More than 9.4 million Chinese students attended this year's college entrance exams (Gaokao) in China, and cheating in Gaokao is now considered a criminal offense.
China Threatens Jail Time For College Entrance Exam Cheaters
Mixed feelings proceed the approval of a new law, punishing exam cheaters with up to seven years in prison....
Bribery Confession in China Calls Into Question Integrity of College Admissions
In a country where cash and connections rule, one bastion of meritocracy, it was thought, remained: admission to a university.
The Eagle, the Dragon, and the ‘Excellent Sheep’
Former Yale University English professor William Deresiewicz’s book, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the...
China’s Millennials
In 1989, students marched on Tiananmen Square demanding democratic reform. The Communist Party responded with a massacre, but it was jolted into restructuring the economy and overhauling the education of its young citizens. A generation later, Chinese youth are a world apart from those who converged at Tiananmen. Brought up with lofty expectations, they’ve been accustomed to unprecedented opportunities on the back of China’s economic boom. But today, China’s growth is slowing and its demographics rapidly shifting, with the boom years giving way to a painful hangover.
Inside a Chinese Test-Prep Factory
One minute later, at precisely 11:45, the stillness was shattered. Thousands of teenagers swarmed out of the towering front gate of Maotanchang High School. Many of them wore identical black-and-white Windbreakers emblazoned with the slogan, in...
Gaokao, China’s National College Exam, to Carry Less Weight
The Ministry of Education announced reforms on September 4 that will lessen the weight that the gaokao, the country's national college entrance exam, carries for university enrollment. The changes are to come into effect by 2020.
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Learn English, Chinese Style
from SohuChina’s Cutthroat School System Leads to Teen Suicides
Suicide has been an increasing problem in China, with state media calling it the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 34...
Chongqing Lifts Exam Ban for Migrant Workers' Children
The southwestern mega city is the latest city to ease the household restriction on migrants sitting the college entrance exam.
The Struggle of 15-Year-Old Hukou Protester Zhan Haite
A 15-year-old girl has made waves in the Chinese press recently for her fight against Shanghai authorities after she was banned from taking the college entrance examination because she does not hold a Shanghaihukou(household registration). She...
Chinese Parents Defrauded by “Perfect” Education
For ambitious Chinese parents, the opportunity was too good to miss – even with its 100,000 yuan (£9,950) price tag. Their children would learn to read books in just 20 seconds and identify poker cards by touch. The most talented would instantly...
Parents Reject China’s Classrooms for Home Schooling
Giving up his successful career as the head of a medical research firm to spend his days at home reading from children's story books was a tough choice for Chinese father Zhang Qiaofeng. But Zhang, one of a small but growing number of Chinese...
Burden of China's College Entrance Exams
Millions of high school graduates across China have been furiously dialing telephone hot lines or gathering with family members around the home computer in recent days in a nail-biter of a ritual not unlike that of waiting for a winning lottery...
Is Its Educational System Pulling China Up or Holding It Back?
China wants inventors and entrepreneurs, but its schools, built around the notorious gaokao exam, are still designed to produce cookie-cutter engineers and accountants.