About 50,000 take gaokao tests in Shanghai in scorching temperatures
Shot by Dong Jun and Zhang Ziyun. Edited by Wang Xinzhou. Subtitles by Wang Xinzhou.
About 50,000 high school students in Shanghai – nearly the same number as last year – are taking their gaokao, or college entrance examination.
The exam is usually held in June, but it was pushed back a month in Shanghai this year due to the recent resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic. It started on Thursday and will end on Saturday.
Parents and teachers give handshakes, high-fives and hugs to students and wish them good luck.
Today is the 11th solar term xiaoshu, or Slight Heat, on the traditional Chinese calendar, signaling the start of the midsummer heatwave. The temperature was forecast to reach 37 degrees Celsius today.
Early in the morning, temperatures climbed past 30 degrees around the city, prompting an orange heat alert, the second-highest alert on its three-tier system.
Students have a final look at their textbooks before entering an examination venue at Qibao High School in Minhang District.
According to local education officials, students have to take pandemic control and preventive measures during the testing period, including wearing facial masks and taking PCR and antigen tests every day.
With this year's examinations taking place during the hottest time of year, with consecutive high-temperature days, the local meteorological bureau is keeping students and families updated with weather forecasts.
It is providing regular updates on air quality, weather conditions, temperature, wind direction and speed.
The first gaokao exam, which began at 9am, was the written Chinese test.
Students were instructed to arrive 45 minutes early to venues to complete the relevant procedures and locate their examination rooms.
Parents waved to their children outside the downtown Xuhui High School, one of the city's examination locations, around 8am. Some parents wore red clothing, including T-shirts with the NIKE emblem and qipao, because they believe it will bring their children good luck.
Red is associated with good fortune and success in Chinese culture.
NIKE was chosen as a tick for the right answers, whereas "qi" in qipao has the same pronunciation as the first character of a Chinese phrase that indicates instant success.
A woman, surnamed Wang, is dressed in red qipao, a sign of good luck, in downtown Xuhui District. Her son was appearing for the exams.
Parents wait outside the examination center at Xuhui High School.
"I just want to cheer up a little bit, sometimes a happy attitude brings good luck," remarked a mother called Wang, dressed in qipao and accompanying her son.
"My son appears calm, we are the more nervous ones in the family," she said. "We are so pleased that he is so mature. The feeling of watching him enter the school is quite complicated."
A mother uses a fan to cool down her daughter before the exams.
Some parents told Shanghai Daily that they did not leave the compound even after the lockdown was lifted last month because they feared getting infected, and could impact their children's exams.
"I informed my boss that I needed to stay at home to prepare for my daughter's gaokao," a mother surnamed Ji explained.
"Because of his understanding, I was able to stay at home with my daughter."
Despite living close to the examination venue, she opted to wait outside until her daughter had finished the exam.
With scorching temperatures, many parents used small electric fans to cool themselves down while waiting outside the site.
A college student comes to his former school to wish the current students best of luck.
College students were among those who came over to the centers to wish them luck.
"He is a freshman, and I am a sophomore. We were both members of Shanghai Nanyang Model High School's chemistry club," Jian Xiang, a Fudan University student, said.
"I'm here today to wish my fellow schoolmates the best of luck in their examinations. I hope they get good scores in the exams and join our university."
Parents and teachers give handshakes, high-fives and hugs to students and wish them good luck before the exam.
At another center, Qibao High School on the outskirts of Minhang District, some students congregated outdoors to discuss the exam, while others had a final look at the books, with their parents cooling them down with fans.
Teachers from the school formed two lines to cheer on the students.
"Qibao High School was my gaokao exam center as well," an English teacher, surnamed Zhang, said.
"Now as a teacher invigilating the exam, I'm as nervous as the students," she said.
Wu Yun , a freshman at Renmin University of China in Beijing, cheered on the examinees as they passed through the gate. He is well-known for making a supportive video for Qibao's students.
"I organized the current college students to film the video for the students because it's extremely difficult for them to attend practically two-semester online classes amid the COVID-19 outbreak," he explained.
A large family in red, including parents, grandparents and the younger brother, were all present.
The younger sibling is presently in second grade at Minhang High School and will take the exam next year. The mother wanted to encourage her younger boy to study hard and experience the atmosphere of gaokao ahead of time.
A couple, surnamed Yan and Xia , were dressed in red with NIKE logos. Both of them are teachers.
"Even though we are teachers and have experienced lots of exams, we are still nervous because gaokao is undoubtedly vital for our whole family," they said.
"Although the COVID-19 outbreak does negatively impact daily life, it was also a golden opportunity for parents and children to stay together."
Students go through strict pandemic control measures before entering the examination centers.
Two mothers, surnamed Yang and Ma, were chatting after they dropped off their children.
They are both doctors. For them, the nearly three-month quarantine did not mean more time with their children. In fact, it was extended hours at work.
"But we are not worried about not having supervised our children. We believe in their self-awareness in online classes, and they will do well in the exams," they said.
Police in place for help
Approximately, 10,000 police officers and their assistants were on the streets, assisting schools and students during the exams.
At the Zhangjiang Overpass in the Pudong New Area, which is usually congested, traffic officers on motorcycles were posted to the area just in case parents make a request for their children to be dropped at the examination centers.
A policeman guides traffic in front of a school.
In Huangpu District, police received a help call at 8:40am that a student who was to take the exams at Jinling Middle School was about to get late. The student who lived far off was stuck in a taxi at Xizang Road S.
A police officer immediately rushed to the spot on his motorcycle and found the student in the taxi. The student reached the center minutes later.
In Songjiang District, a police officer escorts a mother back home after her son brought the wrong exam pass.
In the suburban Songjiang District, a mother sought help from the police outside Huashi Junior High School at 8:15am since her son had brought the wrong examination entrance pass.
Le Yuanji , a traffic police officer, immediately drove her back home, which was about 7 kilometers away.
They returned to the school 17 minutes later, and the student did not miss the test, which started at 9am.
Police officer Xing Chen from Jing 'an District keeps order outside Xinzhong Senior High School.
In Jing 'an District, police officer Xing Chen, 25, was busy keeping order for students and their parents outside Xinzhong Senior High School. He was a former student of the school.
"I decided to become a police officer because of their help when I took the university entrance exams," he said. "I feel proud to serve my former teachers and a new generation of students."
