Liang, a self-made millionaire, has taken China's notoriously difficult annual college entrance exam, or "gaokao," dozens of times over the past four decades, hoping to win a place at Sichuan University and fulfill his aspiration of becoming an "intellectual."
Liang Shi, a self-made millionaire, has taken China's college entrance exam dozens of times over the past four decades. Photo: AFP
By most accounts, Liang is considered a success — he has worked his way up from a regular job in a factory to setting up his own building materials business, earning millions of yuan in his career, but the college dream has so far eluded him.
On his journey to university, he spent 12 hours a day studying, abstaining from drinking and playing mahjong, and endured a lot of ridicule on social media and in public opinion, including opinions that he took the university entrance exam just to polish his image and promote his work.
Despite months of living like an “ascetic monk,” Liang this year still fell 34 points short of the provincial cutoff for any university. “Before I got the results, I had already assessed that I wouldn’t be able to score high enough to get into a top university, but I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t be able to score high enough to get into a regular one either,” he said.
On Friday evening — along with hundreds of thousands of high school students across Sichuan province — the now-gray-haired businessman carefully entered his exam information and anxiously waited to see what his results would be.
Several local media reporters who live-streamed the incident also expressed regret and disappointment like Liang, realizing that no miracle had happened.
“It happened again this year. It’s a shame,” he said. In the past, Liang had always been determined after each failure, vowing to try again next year. But now, for the first time in decades, he wondered if his difficult ambition would lead to anything.
"If I really don't see much hope, then there's no point in retaking the exam. I've really been studying very hard every day. It's hard to say whether I'll continue preparing for next year's gaokao," he shared sadly.
Still, a life without gaokao preparation feels empty to Liang. “It would be a difficult decision. I don’t want to give up,” he says thoughtfully. “If I stop taking the gaokao, every cup of tea I drink for the rest of my life will taste of regret.”
Hoang Anh (according to AFP, CNA)
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