Similarly, on a frontline episode on the Gaokao from the perspective of students at one boarding academic high school, one student was exempted from taking the gaokao and offered admission to Tsinghua’s math department because he medaled at a prestigious international math competition. On the day of the gaokao, instead of joining his classmates in that exam…he was using the time to learn how to drive to earn his license.
I figured…but felt the need to hold back considering both sides of my family are from those academic powerhouse provinces.
It’s a bit amusing as not too long ago in the context of China’s overall Imperial history, Beijing/northern China was considered an academic backwater not too different from how ethnic minorities in China or poor farmers in rural areas…especially central and west China away from the SE coasts are viewed currently.