Saluting the giant old exam tree called gaokao

Now that the 2026 national college entrance examination is over, millions of candidates' families must be waiting with bated breath for June 25, the day the exam's results will be announced.

Until then, the candidates can take it easy, waking up late to make up for the sleepless nights spent preparing for the exam.

Their parents are likely pampering them now, taking them on domestic or overseas tours.

Some might choose to burn a few incense sticks at Buddhist or Confucius temples, praying for good exam results.

After all, Confucius (551-479 BC) is regarded as China's earliest educator.

The national college entrance examination, called gaokao in Chinese, is believed to be the largest of its kind in the world.

From around 10 million candidates each year in the past two decades, to around 12.9 million this year, the exam has long been regarded as a serious matter for both local governments and the public.

During the three to four days of the exam, the duration varying by region, construction sites are ordered to stop operations, to cut down on the noise; and traffic is controlled to make way for exam candidates as a priority.

By taking such measures, local governments have endeared themselves to the public because every candidate is backed by an entire family.

Among other heart-warming measures, some companies offer free taxi rides to candidates going to their exam centers, while some restaurants provide free lunches, and some hotels free beds, on gaokao days.

The Ministry of Education has also asked people not to be fooled by frauds who come up with various tricks this time of year.

Someone might be selling "illegally obtained" exam papers, another might be auctioning AI-predicted questions, and yet another might be offering to teach how to cheat during the exams.

In fact, the fraudsters don't take a break even after the exams. Some might dupe candidates into believing that they can get hold of their results even before they are officially declared.

Others might claim they can hack into the exam system to change results in their favor. But those clicking on such links might soon find their bank cards used fraudulently.

Once the gaokao results are announced, the families of candidates who did not get a high score might receive phone calls promising to get them admission into better universities through special channels. This is yet another scam.

These are some old tricks and one can expect the scammers to come up with new tricks in the age of new technologies. We hope candidates and their families will take the government's warnings seriously and not fall for such tricks.

Gaokao has been conducted in China since 1952.

It was halted for more than 10 years during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) before being restored in 1977 — the year I wrote and passed the exam.

That year, more than 5.7 million candidates sat for the exam but only 270,000, or 4.8 percent of the total, qualified.

Today's generation must count itself lucky. Of the nearly 13 million candidates who took the exam, 90 percent are expected to gain admission to higher education institutions in the form of four-year-long studies for a bachelor's degree or three-year non-degree higher vocational studies.

Despite criticism that gaokao deliberately or objectively encourages exam-oriented learning; that young people in different localities can't yet share the same educational opportunities; and that it stifles the development of innovative ability, most people in society agree that it is the fairest and best way of identifying talent today.

For me this is like an exam tree that one can prune or trim, but never cut down altogether.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.

kangbing@chinadaily.com.cn