For Chinese people, especially those born after the 1970s, gaokao is a nightmare that still rankles. For them, gaokao, or the national college entrance examination in early June, represents years of dedication and self-sacrifice at school, and it is one of the keys to determine their direction in life.

Before 1949, Chinese colleges recruited students according to their own schedules and students could go to different colleges for examinations, which added to their chance of admission. But due to the chaotic situation of the nation, few people were able to receive higher education and China produced about 21,000 college graduates annually in the 1940s.

In 1952, the Ministry of Education of the newly born P.R.C decided to impose a national examination for all colleges in the Chinese mainland. However, gradually, political backgrounds became a determining factor in gaokao, as China started to become obsessed with rounds of political campaigns. During 1958 to 1965, in addition to brilliant academic performance, students had to have a clean family background, for example, no family members could be born from exploiting classes, such as a landlord or the bourgeois. Children of workers, peasants and soldiers were favored as they were considered the backbone and loyal successors of the socialist country.

In 1966, gaokao was halted as the whole nation sank into the Cultural Revolution whirlpool, a decade of disaster that turned traditional Chinese values upside down. In 1971, the colleges started to recruit new students, but the ban on gaokao still remained. All the entrants were brilliant youth directly chosen from peasants, workers and the military, and they must have worked as such for over two years.

Statistics reveal that from 1970 to 1976, about 82,000 students were admitted to colleges, but many of them had only finished middle school, which put a huge question mark over their academic qualities.

The downward trend was reversed in 1977 when the State Council issued a directive for the reinstitution of the college entrance examination. The news rekindled the public thirst for knowledge, as evidenced by the 5.72 million candidates taking part in the exam in 1978.