Food for thought

Blogs and BBS feeds on the Internet now allow parents to share their concerns and tips on surviving the countdown to the college entrance exam, with one forum in Beijing - Gaosan Jiazhang Bokequan, meaning blogs of parents of 12th-grade students - attracting up to 8,000 hits a day.

Students in their last year at Lintou High School in Hanshan county, Anhui province, take part in a pillow fight as part of a stress-busting exercise.

The technology, said Fan, helps the vast majority "in their roles as life secretary, teaching aid, time controller, crisis management expert and nutritionist, to name only a few".

Parents go about these duties with their own unique style - but some can go too far, according to Han Chao, a 23-year-old graduate from Beijing Foreign Studies University. He recalled that one of his 12th grade classmates was "prevented from eating crabs at Chinese New Year because his parents thought it was too time-consuming".

Zhou Xiaozheng, a professor of sociology at Renmin University of China, attributed the efforts made by most Chinese parents of 12th-grade students to the country's family planning policy. "When a couple has only one child, they must invest in that child's education because it not only secures the child's future but also their own," he said.

Parents are also motivated by their own experiences, added Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology. "Those who lack education themselves may have been laid off, so they want their offspring to have good educations and to stand out in the fierce competition," he said.

Wang Naixin, 23, remembers that her mother was more nervous about the gaokao than her when she was in the 12th grade at Shanghai Weiyu High School.

"She chartered a taxi to take me to school every morning instead of letting me take the bus so I could sleep an extra 15 minutes," she said. "My father was only allowed to watch television in his bedroom so it didn't distract me from my studies and all my tutors were invited to the house for extra classes."

When Wang received a letter offering a place at the nearby East China Normal University, which meant she did not need to take the college entrance exam, she said her mother was overjoyed. Only a small proportion of students win college spots with recommendations every year (this also usually involves sitting an exam), leaving the rest to fight it out in the end-of-year showdown.

"I was still considering taking the gaokao and sticking with my preferred major but my mother said to me, 'If you accept this offer, we will both be set free from the tension'," said Wang. "She was so happy when I said yes that she took me on holiday to Singapore and Malaysia."

Four years ago, Wang Chenshuang (no relation to Wang Naixin) also took the so-called "easy way out" and accepted an offer from a college that was not her first choice.

As one of the elite students of Chongqing Foreign Languages School, she was confident and had her heart set on Xiamen University in Fujian province. Yet, the tension took its toll when her classmates began vanishing from class.

"We were supposed to fight together in the last year but when I saw more and more empty seats of people granted recommendations for various universities, I was overwhelmed by the stifling tension," said the 22-year-old.

Wang Chenshuang eventually took an offer from the advertising department of Shanghai International Studies University, which at the time was not well known in Chongqing.

"The sense of relief was far greater than the depression I felt walking away from my dream university," she added.