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MILLIONAIRE TAKES COLLEGE ENTRANCE TEST FOR 27TH TIME
Among the millions of fresh-faced high schoolers taking China's dreaded "gaokao" college entrance exam recently, Liang Shi sticks out like a sore thumb: a gray-haired, self-made millionaire stubbornly taking the test for the 27th time.
Liang, 56, is no fool. He worked his way up from a menial job on a factory floor to starting his own successful construction materials business.
But one dream has always eluded him: getting a high enough score on the notoriously grueling gaokao to study at top-ranked Sichuan University.
To compete with the nearly 13 million high school seniors taking the exam this year, Liang said he has been living "the life of a monk" for the past few months, rising just after dawn to study textbooks for 12 hours a day.
"It's an uncomfortable thought that I didn't manage to get a college education," Liang said. "I really want to go to university and become an intellectual."
Over the past four decades, the Sichuan native has taken the gaokao 26 times but has consistently failed to get the required result to send him to his chosen university.
"They call me 'the gaokao fighter’," he said, proudly owning a nickname given to him by local media.
For students, a good gaokao result can decide one's entire career, because a degree from an elite university brings respect, status, and better job opportunities.
Liang took the exam for the first time in 1983, when he was only 16.
He kept trying to boost his score during the next decade until he had to give up in 1992, because the test, at that time, was restricted to single people under 25 years of age.
As soon as those limits were lifted in 2001, Liang's desire for a prestigious college education was rekindled.
He has since taken the gaokao another 16 times, including every year since 2010, even when harsh zero-Covid restrictions made taking the exam more challenging than normal.
Online, some have questioned whether his obsession is merely a publicity stunt.
"What for?" Liang answered. "No one in his right mind would spend decades taking the gaokao for a stunt."
He had to give up drinking and playing mahjong during the preparation period, he jokingly pointed out.
Liang's quest has not got much support from his son, who took the gaokao himself in 2011.
"At first he did not approve, and now, he is just indifferent," Liang said.
Asked how he would celebrate once the test is over this weekend, he said he was planning to make up for lost fun.
"I'm going to play mahjong with my friends for three days and three nights," he predicted.
If you are interested in how Mr. Liang actually did on this year's gaokao, take a look at 121 TIME TO GIVE UP? It is not a happy ending.
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