Liang Shi, 56, has by many measures led a
successful life. He worked in various industries, eventually opened his
own business, got married and had a son.
But there’s one goal he hasn’t yet
achieved, though not for lack of trying: getting a good enough score on
China’s college entrance exam to enter a top university.
Liang took the grueling two-day exam, known as the “gaokao,” in
early June alongside nearly 13 million students nationwide. It marked
his 27th time taking the gaokao, having been unsatisfied with his score
each time since he first sat the exam 40 years ago.
Students’ exam results are their only criteria for college admission – and most candidates only take one shot, with the test happening once a year.
Liang has been the outlier, making national headlines for his persistence.
But
it has so far failed to pay off; after completing the gaokao, he filmed
a video on Douyin, China’s equivalent of TikTok, saying he was “not
very satisfied” with his performance.
“It may be a little difficult if I want to go to a good university this year,” he said in the video.
The
results, released on Friday, confirmed his fears. He had scored 428
points out of the total 750 – lower than his results the previous year,
and not enough to get into most colleges, let alone an elite one like
Sichuan University, which he’s been eyeing for decades.
“I’m
so disappointed now, so disappointed. I think the score cannot be as
bad as this,” he said in a social media livestream hosted by local media
outlet Sichuan TV, which showed him opening his result in real time.
“Although I thought this test was a bit of a failure, I didn’t think I’d get lower than last year’s score anyway.”
The gaokao covers four subjects: Chinese,
math, English, and either the sciences (physics, chemistry and biology)
or liberal arts (politics, history and geography). In the livestream,
Liang said he felt “disappointed in all subjects,” but especially in the
Chinese and liberal arts subjects.
A lifetime of trying
Liang,
a Sichuan native, took his first gaokao as a young student in 1983 but
failed to meet the minimum score for college admission, according to
state-run outlet China Daily. He tried for the next two years, with
similar results.
In
the following decade, he went to a technical school, but quit shortly
after. He did other odd jobs, worked at a timber factory and got
married. But through it all, he kept studying for and occasionally
taking the gaokao – even getting high enough scores in 1992 to enter a
university in Nanjing, according to China Daily.
But, unsatisfied, he turned down the offer and continued trying.
After aging out of the gaokao eligibility
requirements, he stopped taking the test for several years, working as a
salesman before opening a successful factory, China Daily reported.
Then in 2001, the government scrapped the age limit for the test,
allowing him to resume – sporadically at first, then with stubborn
consistency.
He has now taken the gaokao every year since 2010.
He
had worked hard this past year, leaving home at 8 a.m. to study at a
friend’s tea house and not returning home until late at night, according
to China Daily. He’d even accepted that Sichuan University might be out
of reach, deciding to attend any “key university” that would accept
him.
But he sounded defeated on Friday as he
reviewed his results. He didn’t know whether he would take the test
again in 2024. “If I can’t reach my goal next year, I may give up too,”
he said.
“I
believe I am OK in every aspect, but the results prove again and again
that I am not,” he said. “If I can indeed find the problem and change
it, and my score can come up, then I may still not give up.”
Read the full story here.