Tea Leaf Nation

To many people in China, domestic universities are known for “narrow admissions, wide exit” while American universities have “easy admissions, tough exit.” This means that Chinese students facing the high school entrance exam (“gaokao” in Chinese) are under extreme pressure to gain college admittance; but entering college is the beginning of a relatively carefree four [...]

In June, around 9 million students took China’s college entrance exam, also known as the “gao kao.” Over the past week, most of them have been anxiously finding out about the results that could have life-changing implications. But behind the exam-related angst is an important trend: The number of gao kao participants have been shrinking [...]

Emotions swept the Chinese Internet this past week as the dreaded gao kao, China’s college-entrance exams, came and went, leaving nothing behind but gnawed pencils, tear-drenched tissues, and empty IV drips in its wake. Even though the vast majority of Chinese agree that the gao kao system needs serious reform, for the time being it remains [...]

Emotions swept the Chinese Internet this past week as the dreaded gao kao, China’s college-entrance exams, came and went, leaving nothing behind but gnawed pencils, tear-drenched tissues, and empty IV drips in its wake. Even though the vast majority of Chinese agree that the gao kao system needs serious reform, for the time being it remains [...]

When he showed up for his “gao kao,” or high exam, at the gate of Nanjing Shuwen High School, Mr. Wang Xia caused quite a stir. After all, this was Wang’s twelfth gao kao since China’s Ministry of Education lifted age restrictions for takers of China’s dreaded college entrance exam. But it gets better: Wang [...]

When he showed up for his “gao kao,” or high exam, at the gate of Nanjing Shuwen High School, Mr. Wang Xia caused quite a stir. After all, this was Wang’s twelfth gao kao since China’s Ministry of Education lifted age restrictions for takers of China’s dreaded college entrance exam. But it gets better: Wang [...]

Gao kao, the Chinese national college entrance examination, is around the corner. In less than three days, when the traffic moves slower, cars honk less, and even market vendors solicit a bit more quietly, you will know that more than 10 million Chinese high school seniors are scribbling on their gao kao exam papers, fighting [...]

Gao kao, the Chinese national college entrance examination, is around the corner. In less than three days, when the traffic moves slower, cars honk less, and even market vendors solicit a bit more quietly, you will know that more than 10 million Chinese high school seniors are scribbling on their gao kao exam papers, fighting [...]

While the number of Chinese applicants to American colleges saw an exponential increase over the past few years, the “gao kao,” (高考), China’s dreaded college entrance examination, is still most Chinese high schoolers’ only chance to gain access to higher education. But due to the efforts of one school in Shenzhen, that may finally be [...]

He’s known as a “strange official,” (奇官) a “strange person” (奇人) and a “reformist” (中国改革派官员). He’s also become quite popular, with more than 600,000 followers on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter. His name: Luo Chongmin (@罗崇敏), head of Yunan province’s Department of Education. Sina Weibo’s most-retweeted image of May 6, 2012 (according to Hong Kong University’s [...]