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Gaokao champs tested again
By Wang Fanfan Source:Global Times Published: 2011-7-7 20:02:00
Fan Mengchen, the gaokao champion of arts subject in Shaanxi Province, grilled by the media on June 25 . Photo: CFP.
There’s a group of elusive and elite teenagers who are being hunted by the media, used by their high schools, recruited by universities and are the envy of millions of parents around the country.
They are this year’s highest scorers in the annual gaokao or national college entrance exams.
Although the Ministry of Education forbids the release of the names of the stars of the gaokao, the search for the best and brightest began as soon as the scores of all examninees were released in Beijing on June 23.
In a country that loves firsts, the media spotlight falls heavily on the 50 or so students who top the 9 million or so other 17-year-old students who take the gaokao. The gaokao champions are chosen from each province and major urban center. They are not only feted, praised and honored; their lives are pried open, study habits examined and expectations heaped upon them.
It took only a few hours to find the four students who were Beijing’s gaokao champions; three young women were declared co-champions when they achieved identical scores in arts and a young man who bested all of Beijing’s gaokao takers in science.
The winner in science, Liang Siqi and a co-champion in arts, Yi Sizhao, both attended High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. The school not only released their names to the media but invited reporters to the school who grilled the students for two hours.
High schools in Beijing compete for best students and the Renmin University affiliated high school proudly claims on its website to have produced six gaokao champions from 2004 to 2010.
Whisked away in a limo
Later that day, Liang and Yi were whisked away in limousines to the headquarters of Internet portals tencent.com and sohu.com. They were interviewed live online and had their photos taken holding a stuffed mascot.
Meanwhile the Web portal sina.com opened special channels listing gaokao champions in all provinces and major urban centers. It even offered rewards to people who provided tips about the champions’ personal lives.
This year’s leak centered on Beijing’s science champ, Liang. He was rumored to be dating his classmate, Shi Qinru, whose gaokao score was only one point shy of matching Liang’s championship mark.
When Shi revealed she plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston next year, micro bloggers fretted over whether the couple will be able to maintain their relationship.
Maintaining privacy is critical
None of the four gaokao champs in Beijing accepted requests from the Global Times to discuss their feelings about the media attention they have received.
Science champ Liang declined the Global Times’ email request for an interview, but replied in an email that he wants to remain low-key and that he can’t control his high school’s desire for publicity.
One of the co-champions in arts, Liang Qian, wrote on her microblog that she is determined to boycott the media and complained about social attitudes that measure a person’s value according to test scores.
This year’s top scorers may have learned a lesson from last year’s champ.
Gaokao champion Li Taibo told the media he planned to turn down offers from several Chinese universities in favor of going to colleges in the US. Later it was discovered that his application was rejected by 11 US universities.
Li’s explanations for the only failure in his life were low SAT scores and the need for a full scholarship from the US schools.
Portraits of top students attract the attention of passers-by in Jilin No.1 High School in June 2010. Photo: CFP
Success turns to failure
Li and China’s education system ended up being vilified in some Chinese media. Li’s rejections were seen as the proof of China’s inferior teaching methods and over-emphasis on testing. Education agencies used Li’s failed applications as an example of how to apply to American colleges.
Li is now studying at Hong Kong University.
In 2009, Dong Wei scored 655 out of 750, topping all of the 500,000 gaokao takers in the Sichuan Province. The farmer’s son was not only his high school’s first gaokao champion, but also was the first to achieve the distinction in the city of Bazhong.
The Sichuan Metropolitan News reported the city government awarded his school 1 million yuan. Tsinghua University offered him a scholarship and a tuition waiver, while a Chengdu real estate company gave him 30,000 yuan.
Now a sophomore at Tsinghua University, Dong vividly remembers what it was like to achieve academic stardom at such an early age.
“Thanks to the media I suddenly became a celebrity and for a long time I was exhausted dealing with all kinds of social functions and interviews, but I have no interest in any of this,” Dong told the Global Times.
Dong has learned to be very protective of his privacy, asking the Global Times to not only send him a list of interview questions but a copy of her press credentials.
Dong also seems shy about being held up as a role model. “Some parents want to know my secret of success and impose it on their children. They forget that everyone is different,” Dong wrote in his email reply.
“The attention focused on the gaokao champions is blind and distorted,” Dong said, asserting that gaokao is not a good thing and expectations are often too high.
“The gaokao is just a jumping board. We need to take advantage of gaokao and jump higher,” said Dong.
An investigation of gaokao champions by the China University Alumni Association shows that 802 gaokao champions from 1999 to 2010 enrolled in either Peking University or Tsinghua University and 400 of them chose business management as their majors.
The report also indicates gaokao champions don’t always translate their early success into career success and future riches. In fact the report said that few of China’s top business tycoons are business management graduates.
Universities compete
Yet China’s top universities go to great lengths in their attempts to recruit top gaokao scorers. Some admissions officers have posted their phone numbers online, others camp out at hotels near the top high schools and some visit students’ homes with offers of free education.
This year Hong Kong University seems again to have won the battle for the brightest high school students. It attracted 17 gaokao champions from Beijing, Hunan, Yunnan and Tibet with annual scholarships of HK$160,000($2,0555).
The university has also recruited 40 other high scorers from Beijing, most of whom rejected offers from the best mainland universities.
“The reason I choose Hong Kong University is that I want to try a different method of education. It’s not all about money,” Zhu Zhu, a Beijing gaokao champion, told the Global Times.
“The scholarship was of course an important factor and I feel great that I don’t need to spend my parents’ money for higher education.”
Fast Facts: gaokao champions from 1999-2010
Mainland gaokao champions’ favorite universities: Hong Kong University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mainland gaokao champions’ favorite majors: Business Management, Sciences, Electronic Information, Life Sciences, Law
Forty percent of the Hong Kong top high school students chose business as major, while the most popular major for top students in Taiwan is medicine.
Source: The 2011 investigative report on the gaokao champions from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan issued by the China University Alumni Association on June 22.
Han Yang contributed to this report.
Newspaper headline: Gaokao champs tested again
There’s a group of elusive and elite teenagers who are being hunted by the media, used by their high schools, recruited by universities and are the envy of millions of parents around the country.
They are this year’s highest scorers in the annual gaokao or national college entrance exams.
Although the Ministry of Education forbids the release of the names of the stars of the gaokao, the search for the best and brightest began as soon as the scores of all examninees were released in Beijing on June 23.
In a country that loves firsts, the media spotlight falls heavily on the 50 or so students who top the 9 million or so other 17-year-old students who take the gaokao. The gaokao champions are chosen from each province and major urban center. They are not only feted, praised and honored; their lives are pried open, study habits examined and expectations heaped upon them.
It took only a few hours to find the four students who were Beijing’s gaokao champions; three young women were declared co-champions when they achieved identical scores in arts and a young man who bested all of Beijing’s gaokao takers in science.
The winner in science, Liang Siqi and a co-champion in arts, Yi Sizhao, both attended High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. The school not only released their names to the media but invited reporters to the school who grilled the students for two hours.
High schools in Beijing compete for best students and the Renmin University affiliated high school proudly claims on its website to have produced six gaokao champions from 2004 to 2010.
Whisked away in a limo
Later that day, Liang and Yi were whisked away in limousines to the headquarters of Internet portals tencent.com and sohu.com. They were interviewed live online and had their photos taken holding a stuffed mascot.
Meanwhile the Web portal sina.com opened special channels listing gaokao champions in all provinces and major urban centers. It even offered rewards to people who provided tips about the champions’ personal lives.
This year’s leak centered on Beijing’s science champ, Liang. He was rumored to be dating his classmate, Shi Qinru, whose gaokao score was only one point shy of matching Liang’s championship mark.
When Shi revealed she plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston next year, micro bloggers fretted over whether the couple will be able to maintain their relationship.
Maintaining privacy is critical
None of the four gaokao champs in Beijing accepted requests from the Global Times to discuss their feelings about the media attention they have received.
Science champ Liang declined the Global Times’ email request for an interview, but replied in an email that he wants to remain low-key and that he can’t control his high school’s desire for publicity.
One of the co-champions in arts, Liang Qian, wrote on her microblog that she is determined to boycott the media and complained about social attitudes that measure a person’s value according to test scores.
This year’s top scorers may have learned a lesson from last year’s champ.
Gaokao champion Li Taibo told the media he planned to turn down offers from several Chinese universities in favor of going to colleges in the US. Later it was discovered that his application was rejected by 11 US universities.
Li’s explanations for the only failure in his life were low SAT scores and the need for a full scholarship from the US schools.
Success turns to failure
Li and China’s education system ended up being vilified in some Chinese media. Li’s rejections were seen as the proof of China’s inferior teaching methods and over-emphasis on testing. Education agencies used Li’s failed applications as an example of how to apply to American colleges.
Li is now studying at Hong Kong University.
In 2009, Dong Wei scored 655 out of 750, topping all of the 500,000 gaokao takers in the Sichuan Province. The farmer’s son was not only his high school’s first gaokao champion, but also was the first to achieve the distinction in the city of Bazhong.
The Sichuan Metropolitan News reported the city government awarded his school 1 million yuan. Tsinghua University offered him a scholarship and a tuition waiver, while a Chengdu real estate company gave him 30,000 yuan.
Now a sophomore at Tsinghua University, Dong vividly remembers what it was like to achieve academic stardom at such an early age.
“Thanks to the media I suddenly became a celebrity and for a long time I was exhausted dealing with all kinds of social functions and interviews, but I have no interest in any of this,” Dong told the Global Times.
Dong has learned to be very protective of his privacy, asking the Global Times to not only send him a list of interview questions but a copy of her press credentials.
Dong also seems shy about being held up as a role model. “Some parents want to know my secret of success and impose it on their children. They forget that everyone is different,” Dong wrote in his email reply.
“The attention focused on the gaokao champions is blind and distorted,” Dong said, asserting that gaokao is not a good thing and expectations are often too high.
“The gaokao is just a jumping board. We need to take advantage of gaokao and jump higher,” said Dong.
An investigation of gaokao champions by the China University Alumni Association shows that 802 gaokao champions from 1999 to 2010 enrolled in either Peking University or Tsinghua University and 400 of them chose business management as their majors.
The report also indicates gaokao champions don’t always translate their early success into career success and future riches. In fact the report said that few of China’s top business tycoons are business management graduates.
Universities compete
Yet China’s top universities go to great lengths in their attempts to recruit top gaokao scorers. Some admissions officers have posted their phone numbers online, others camp out at hotels near the top high schools and some visit students’ homes with offers of free education.
This year Hong Kong University seems again to have won the battle for the brightest high school students. It attracted 17 gaokao champions from Beijing, Hunan, Yunnan and Tibet with annual scholarships of HK$160,000($2,0555).
The university has also recruited 40 other high scorers from Beijing, most of whom rejected offers from the best mainland universities.
“The reason I choose Hong Kong University is that I want to try a different method of education. It’s not all about money,” Zhu Zhu, a Beijing gaokao champion, told the Global Times.
“The scholarship was of course an important factor and I feel great that I don’t need to spend my parents’ money for higher education.”
Fast Facts: gaokao champions from 1999-2010
Mainland gaokao champions’ favorite universities: Hong Kong University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mainland gaokao champions’ favorite majors: Business Management, Sciences, Electronic Information, Life Sciences, Law
Forty percent of the Hong Kong top high school students chose business as major, while the most popular major for top students in Taiwan is medicine.
Source: The 2011 investigative report on the gaokao champions from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan issued by the China University Alumni Association on June 22.
Han Yang contributed to this report.
Newspaper headline: Gaokao champs tested again
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