Earlier, there were stray instances of cheating and fraud. Now, there are multiple scams surrounding China’s most prestigious exam, the gaokao. The exam, which is the only route to enter university, was taken by 12.9 million students this year. Preparation for the gaokao starts early. Preceding it, is the zhongkao or the high school entrance exam. In China, nine years of education, from primary to middle school, are compulsory. To enter high school one must take the zhongkao, which has, for years, had a success rate of only 50%. Those who fail either go to vocational schools or just drop out. Those who pass, however, spend two of their three high school years preparing for the gaokao. University admissions are based on your provincial (state) gaokao ranking, so the choice of high school is very important.
The scam that surfaced this year saw students submitting registration forms with fake government stamps, enabling them to take the zhongkao from Xi’an without being eligible to do so. Twenty-nine people from two tuition schools were arrested for having provided these forms. Interestingly, Xi’an allows ‘returnee students’ to take the zhongkao. Children of migrant workers from Xi’an who have accompanied their parents to other cities are allowed to return for the zhongkao. There is another category of ‘returnees’: talented students invited by Xi’an to take the high school exams in the province. These students are provided with Xi’an hukous or household registrations to enable them to sit for the exam in Xi’an.
Ugly competition
This invitation to talented students reveals that the authorities themselves encourage intense competitiveness in higher education. No wonder, then, that students try anything to get into university. This craze has spawned fake universities which allow admission on payment, no matter how low the gaokao score. This year, the authorities have published a list of such universities, some of which bear names similar to established ones. So-called ‘agents’ also promise admission into established universities for a fee. One agent made 4.7 million yuan from two desperate families who discovered that they had been cheated only when universities returned to physical teaching after the long Covid-19 lockdowns, and the students found their admission letters were fake. The agent has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of 310,000 yuan.
The root of these scams is the regional imbalance in higher education. Beijing is right at the top of China’s 31 provinces in higher education, both in quality and in quantity. On the other hand, border provinces that are densely populated or have a high percentage of minorities, lag behind. Out of the 147 ‘double first class universities’, Beijing alone accounts for 34, followed by Shanghai which has 15. Both are municipalities directly run by the Centre. Major provincial capitals such as Nanjing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xi’an and Wuhan, as well as the municipality of Tianjin, account for the bulk of the rest.
Such is the obsession with getting into university that some students themselves created an imaginary university on the internet. The location of this university was also imaginary — on the border of four provinces, catering to the students there. Between them, these four provinces have just seven universities. Students calculated that if every one of the 3.43 million gaokao candidates from these provinces donated 1000 yuan each, the university could actually be set up. The idea caught on and soon a logo, a website with an admission policy and student identity cards were designed, and a Tang Dynasty poet was appointed the president. The authorities were sympathetic at first, acknowledging the education gap, but soon responded to this dream the only way they know: by banning its mention on social media.