Students are tested on their knowledge of three mandatory subjects: math, Chinese, and English. In addition, they must chose from other subjects in the sciences or humanities, like physics or history, to be tested on. Their last few years of high school are spent preparing for this exam--in fact, according to my wife (who is Chinese) the last year of senior high consists almost entirely of examinations in preparation for the gaokao.
Not surprisingly, the college entrance examination looms large in the life of many Chinese young people--and their parents. Thanks to the one-child policy, parents only have one chance to see their dreams for their offspring fulfilled. Thus, students can face considerable pressure from family to do well on the exam.
As a teacher at a Chinese university, I can get a sense of how important the gaokao is in the life of young Chinese adults. In my Advanced Writing course, one requirement is for students to compose a piece of creative writing in English, like a poem or short story. Perhaps it should not be surprising that a topic that appears from time to time in my students' short stories is the gaokao.
Although its merits are debated at times, it seems unlikely that the college entrance examination is going to disappear soon as the primary gateway to higher education in China. The gaokao is something like an institution. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), universities were first closed for a period of time and the gaokao was no longer adminstered. When the universities reopened, admission was dependent on having the correct class background (worker, peasant, etc.), not academic achievement as measured through an examination. Thus, when the gaokao was reinstated soon after Mao Zedong's death in 1976, it was a big event, a sign of a return to normalcy. A few years ago, there was even a Chinese movie made about the event. Can you imagine an American movie celebrating the SAT?
In a curious way, the gaokao, despite being a feature of modern Chinese life, is something of a link to the past. Starting in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), candidates for positions in the imperial bureaucracy were usually required to take an examination to demonstrate ther grasp of the Confucian classics. Successful candidates were guaranteed a government post; those who excelled on the examination were rewarded with highly prestigious jobs. On the grounds of Beijing's Confucian Shrine you can still see today numerous large stelae on which are engraved the names of successful candidates in the imperial civil service examinations. Then, as now, success on an examination was viewed as a guarantee of success in life and a source of honor for one's family. Thus, as is often the case in China, the past is not that far away; sometimes it might even be said to have reappeared in a new guise.