Chinese College Entrance Exam Asks for "Xi Jinping Quotations" and to "Describe Personal Thoughts"

12.91 Million Candidates Take China's Gaokao College Entrance Exam

Xi Jinping, the President of China, appeared in the essay question of the Gaokao, China's national college entrance examination. Some critics argue that "students have to study President Xi's thoughts and quotations to achieve good scores in the exam, which adds another burden on the test-takers."

According to Chinese state-run CCTV and other sources on the 8th, the essay question in the Gaokao held the previous day presented a speech by President Xi and asked students to write their thoughts about it.

Students taking the Chinese university entrance exam, Gaokao (高考), lined up in front of the exam venue in Beijing on the 7th. This year’s Gaokao, held over two days starting from this date, saw a record high of 12.91 million candidates.

The provided text included phrases such as "If you extinguish others' flames, you cannot light your own," "One flower blooming does not make spring; only when all flowers bloom together (百花齊放, meaning all kinds of flowers bloom simultaneously) does spring fill the field," and "If there were only one kind of flower in the world, no matter how beautiful, it would be monotonous."

The first sentence was a remark made by President Xi at the China Communist Party and World Political Parties Forum in March. At that time, President Xi emphasized common development by stating, "Any country pursuing modernization must uphold the ideals of unity, cooperation, and common development and follow the path of common prosperity."

The second sentence is part of a speech given at UNESCO headquarters in France in March 2014. President Xi said, "Chinese civilization is a civilization formed through continuous exchanges with other civilizations, and China's Four Great Inventions?papermaking, gunpowder, printing, and the compass?led global transformations and the Renaissance."

Regarding this, China Youth Daily commented, "This is a question that raises the great banner of ideology and strengthens ideals and beliefs."

Earlier, in April, the Chinese Communist Party instructed that "Selected Readings of Xi Jinping's Works," a collection of President Xi's writings, be used as university textbooks and for educating party members.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is attending the China-Central Asia Summit held at the Xi'an International Conference Center in Shanxi Province on the 19th of last month. [Image source=Yonhap News]

In China, the Gaokao is regarded as the only path to success. Consequently, competition for private education is fierce. The economic media outlet Sudaichaijing estimated that the average private education cost for one Chinese child until university admission is about 520,000 yuan (approximately 94 million Korean won).

This year, the Gaokao was held over two days, July 7th and 8th, and in some regions, due to different elective subjects, it extended to four days until the 10th. The number of candidates this year reached a record high of 12.91 million, an increase of 980,000 from last year.