Admission: Impossible

By+Yuan+Yuan

When Hengshui in north Chinas Hebei Province was among the countrys poorest cities in late 1990s， no one could have imagined a high school there would go on to make it a national gem.

On June 23， Hengshui High School posted the results of its students in this years national college entrance exam， or the gaokao， online. Of the top 10 students with the highest liberal arts scores in Hebei， nine were from this school； six of the top 10 science scorers were as well.

Hebei has roughly 2，000 high schools， yet this school alone is responsible for educating more than half of the students in the province who go on to study at national key universities， known as Chinas Ivy League. Take Peking University and Tsinghua University， Chinas top two schools， for example. A regular high school would be happy to send two or three students there， but in 2013， Hengshui High School alone sent 104 students to those two universities.

No pain， no gain

“Military-style management” is the modus operandi at Hengshui High School. Students get up at around 5：30 a.m. and dont go to bed until 10：10 p.m. They spend the entire day in classes， with three meal intervals of no more than 40 minutes each.

Wang Xianhang， a 2011 graduate from the school， measured the thickness of all the exam papers she filled out in her three years there—they reached a whopping 2.4 meters high， or 7.9 feet.

Videos showing how students study in the school have been spread online. In the videos， students recite from books even during the morning run. Workbooks pile up so high on desks that students heads sink in a sea of colorful bindings.

“Horrible” is the word that many ne- tizens have used to describe the videos， wondering， “What is the point of this kind of school life？”

But for most students studying here， life is not as harsh as portrayed in the videos. “It is an unavoidable process if we want to pass the gaokao，” said a student at the school， who declined to be named. “No pain， no gain.”

With its record of outstanding scores， Hengshui High School has become the de facto education capital for Hebei students， who fight intensely for a spot at the school. In 2014， the number of students there taking the gaokao surpassed 4，000.

A Hengshui student surnamed Sun， who took the gaokao in 2013， said， “There were 110 students in my class. About 70 of those students were from outside the Hengshui area.”

“The top students who should be at my school have all been taken away，” said a high school teacher from Cangzhou， another city in Hebei， on condition of anonymity. “Before 2000， we still had students getting into Peking and Tsinghua universities， but since then we have had none. The serious lack of good students has caused an existential crisis for my school.”

But theres a reason Hengshui High School has become such a sought-after place. “Normally students transferring from other schools can see a remarkable rise in their test scores after coming to this school， and some can even get a rise of more than 100 points，” said Xin Jinhuan， a teacher from the school. Considering the gaokao has a total of 750 points， 100 more can make a world of difference.

Xiong Bingqi， Deputy Director of Beijingbased 21st Century Education Research Institute， once said that the way Hengshui High School operates exemplifies the approach to high school education taken in many places in China， just by different degrees. As long as success on the gaokao is the end goal， if not the only goal， the fate of students from underdeveloped places will not change.

Maotanchang High School is another such“gaokao factory” in a small mountainous town in Liuan City， east Chinas Anhui Province.

In 2013， 11，222 students from the school sat for the gaokao， and 9，258 of them， or 82.5 percent， scored high enough to enter college.

Students here follow almost the same schedule as that at Hengshui High School.

Maotanchang Town， where this school and one other， Jinan School， are located， is almost a dead city during summer and winter vacations. The population trickles to a mere 5，000. But when the schools are open， the number of residents rockets to 50，000， including students and the parents who come along as “studying companions.”

“Its unbelievable，” said 19-year-old Zheng Hanchao， a student in the town. “The town has the same ability to switch modes as a cellphone： Sound on or off.” There are usually more than 100 students squeezed into every classroom， where teachers use loudspeakers to address the class.

Founded in 1939， Maotanchang High School went through many different iterations and underwent several name changes. By 1999， however， it had become a key high school in Anhui.

Over the past decade， Maotanchang and Hengshui high schools have each maintained a college enrollment rate of above 80 percent of graduates each year.

But the exam scores from Hengshui are far more outstanding than those from Maotanchang. The students who scored highest from the latter in 2014 only ranked at 270th and 60th positions， respectively， in liberal arts and science in Anhui.

Economic engine

With a growing number of non-local parents moving temporarily to Maotanchang， hotel and real estate industries have undergone massive development in the small town in recent years.