Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

THE city was on the move yesterday to ensure a glitch-free first day of the National College Entrance Examinations, also known as gaokao, a make-or-break exam that decides whether the youth of millions of families in China get into the university of their choice.

A total of 43,563 students in Shenzhen, 2,343 more than the previous year, took the two-day exam at 44 schools this year, the 40th anniversary of the resumption of gaokao after it was disrupted by the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Shenzhen traffic police offered help to 20 students, either driving them to examination venues or helping them get examination certificates, on the first day.

There were no reports of candidates being late or missing the exams because of traffic congestion, police said yesterday.

A student from Nanshan was caught in congested traffic on Beihuan Boulevard on the way to the examination venue in Huanggang because of an accident that involved four cars on Xinzhou Overpass. After receiving a call for help from the father, police carried the student by motorcycle to the examination venue in three minutes.

Police put 1,500 officers and 141 motorcycles on duty on the roads near examination venues to ensure smooth traffic.

Parents and teachers gathered at schools to see off the students for the most important examination of their life 90 minutes before the start of the examination.

Police have imposed traffic controls banning vehicles on roads near examination schools.

At around 8 a.m. at Hongling Middle School in Futian District, a father surnamed Zheng asked police for help after realizing that his daughter had forgotten her ID card. Police carried Zheng to his home and back with the ID card in 20 minutes, in time for the start of the examinations.

More than 8,000 cabs in the city offered free rides to test takers.

Teachers and parents wore red shirts or dressed in qipao, which literally indicates victory, to support gaokao takers at some examination schools before the test began. In China, red is a symbol of good luck and happiness.

The environmental protection authority also arranged to have employees on duty for 24 hours to handle complaints about noise pollution from construction sites. Three construction sites near schools in Futian were ordered to suspend work in a check and were fined.

The examination results will be announced June 26 and enrollment will start in the middle of July.

Some 9.4 million students in China sat for gaokao this year.

Because of the sheer number of students competing for places at the country’s top universities, the amount of pressure surrounding the nine-hour exam is huge, resulting in children spending countless hours over their final year of high school cramming for the exam.