The front page of the Southern Metro today is dedicated to the two “champions” of this year’s gaokao for Hainan province. The gaokao is China’s highly stressful national university entrance exam. It is given on a single day, once a year, and any student who misses it for any reason will have to wait another year to retake it. Often, gaokao results are the single deciding factor for whether or not a student will go to university, and if so, which one. It also determines what major they will be eligible for.
The two “champions” for Hainan province this year are Zhou Yi, who achieved the highest results in science, and Cheng Lin Zhuang, who scored highest in liberal arts.
Zhou Yi is an 18 year-old girl, born in the coastal city of Sanya. Her parents are teachers and she dreams of becoming a journalist, because “reporters have a sense of justice and responsibility to do something socially useful.” Yet she plans to apply to programs in business administration or finance at universities in Hong Kong.
Cheng Lin Zhuang is 19 years old. His parents work in a coconut processing plant and struggled to put him through school. Yet he loves books and dreams of attending Peking University, the top liberal arts school in the country. His motto is: “the power of faith will protect me.” The article stresses that he is a balanced and well-adjusted young man with a keen interest in psychology. He is very organized in and focused.
At the bottom of the front page, a tiny headline reads: “For heaven’s sake, is she his mom?!” The article tells the very strange story of an unclaimed baby boy who was born without an anus and left at the hospital. A woman tried to claim him as her own, but didn’t have his birth certificate. She says she gave birth at a tiny private clinic and lost the birth certificate. She was very upset to find her child was born with such a disability and cannot afford the surgery he will need. She says if it is too much trouble to try and claim him without the birth certificate, she will just give up.
Links and Sources
Southern Metro: 海南高考理科状元周怿—“我的理想是当一名记者” , 海南高考文科状元郑林壮-早睡早起从不熬夜心仪北大 , 她 到底是不是孩子的母亲？