The Chinese Dream on Earth

An Unintended Journey Through the College Entrance Exam

I did not apply to Sichuan University, yet, due to a series of mishaps, I received an acceptance letter from them. In 1994, as an examinee from Shandong, I filled out my college preferences before taking the Gaokao (National College Entrance Exam). After scoring first in the school on a mock exam prior to the Gaokao, my homeroom teacher, Sun Fengyun, summoned me to his office to guide my application process. He suggested I apply for a teacher training program, which I promptly refused, upsetting him considerably. He accused me of looking down on the teaching profession. At that moment, I didn't know how to explain that my academic achievements didn't necessarily translate into being a good student, nor could I see myself as a teacher, given my frequent clashes with them throughout my schooling years.

Angered, my teacher then disengaged from assisting me with my applications, leaving me to research universities alone. I carefully reviewed the materials provided by my school, including past admission data and current university brochures. I decided to apply for the Computer Science program at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, thinking I had a good chance of acceptance. Having never even seen a computer before, I thought it would be great to study this field.

When I discussed my decision with my parents over the weekend, they initially seemed indifferent. However, upon reviewing the admission scores and the low ranking of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, they scorned the institution and urged me to apply to prestigious universities like Tsinghua and Peking University, suggesting they could even support me financially if I fell short of the required scores. My heart was set on the International Finance program at Nanjing University, which typically admitted only one student from our region, with admission scores as competitive as those required for Tsinghua and Peking University. After some consideration, my parents dropped their insistence, and thus my first choice shifted from Nanjing University of Science and Technology in Computer Science to Nanjing University in International Finance, making the former my second choice and a lesser-known local university my third choice, which I hardly remember filling out.

To ensure I performed well, my mother, who had never drunk coffee before, bought a large can of it, saying it would keep me alert during the exams. As the exam approached, I declined my parents' offer to accompany me to the county town where the exam would be held, as I had been commuting to my high school on my own by bicycle for years. Fortunately, a distant relative and also the village secretary offered me a ride in his car as he was attending a meeting in the same town.

Upon arrival at the county lodging, our homeroom teacher held a motivational meeting and urged us to rest early. The area was bustling at night, and my deskmate, Sun Huazheng, wrapped her head in a towel, restless and sighing continuously, possibly due to nerves. Unlike her consistent performance, I had fluctuated in my academic standings, and despite her apparent readiness, she seemed more anxious than I had expected. I eventually fell asleep, reminiscing about our shared moments of studying and sports.

The next morning, following my mother's advice, I drank a cup of bitter black coffee without sugar or milk. Whether it was the coffee or a good night's sleep, I felt alert during the exam. Sitting in the sunniest part of the classroom without air conditioning, I managed to stay cool and focused. A classmate kept asking me questions during the exam, but I couldn't afford to be distracted.

The coffee kept me awake all day and through the night, leading to sleeplessness that affected my performance the following day under the sweltering heat and lack of sleep. Despite these challenges, I managed to complete all the exams. By the third day, I felt normal again and was pleasantly surprised to see my parents among the other parents waiting at the school gate after the exams. On the way home, they eagerly asked about my performance, which I could only vaguely estimate at about 600 points in total, satisfying them.

Upon receiving my university acceptance, it was not from Nanjing University but unexpectedly from Sichuan University. I hadn't even considered this university during my application process. The village secretary's wife mocked the acceptance, saying, "The road to Sichuan is as difficult as climbing to the heavens, and even graduating from university there won't guarantee a job." This further dampened my parents' spirits, who were already upset about not receiving an acceptance letter from Nanjing University. Our disappointment led to a tense evening at home without dinner.

That year, the school had several students accepted into undergraduate and specialized programs and held a celebratory banquet, which my parents were inadvertently not invited to. When I discovered this oversight, the school attempted to make amends by sending a plaque with the words "Excellence in Teaching" to my home. Perhaps if my parents had attended the banquet, their attitude towards me would have softened.

Failing to meet my parents' expectations, they reverted to treating me as before, criticizing my cooking and finding faults. As the day to start university approached, my father decided to accompany me to school. Although I had only traveled with my parents by boat to visit relatives in Dalian when I was three or four years old, my mother got lost at the dock, and I led her back. Despite wanting to travel alone to university, my father insisted on coming along. During the journey from Rushan to Chengdu, which took about forty to fifty hours by "green-skin" trains with multiple transfers and often without a seat, my father faced several challenges, including a confrontation where some men in uniform forcibly searched his luggage and stole money from him, leaving only the clothes intact.

Upon arriving at Sichuan University, I learned from other freshmen that due to its remote location, fewer applicants from distant provinces like Shandong applied there. As a result, the university's recruiters were unable to fill their quota and resorted to reallocating students who had initially chosen more prestigious universities as their first choices. This reallocation process was unclear, but it resulted in students like me, who had scored well enough for our second choices, being unexpectedly admitted to Sichuan University. Despite the confusion, we were all too caught up in the excitement of starting our university lives to dwell on the details.