1. Gao Kao and Social Equality
International Conference June 2019 China’s Future: Domestic and International Contradictions and Challenges
Gao Kao and Social Equality
Shan Qin

2. 高考 Gao Kao The National College Entrance Examination
An examination held once a year
In the last year of senior high school
a prerequisite for undergraduate level

3. Deng Resumed Gao Kao
In late 1977, Deng Xiaoping officially resumed the traditional examination (1952) based on academics.
This gave Chinese students a chance to receive higher education, again.
A potential way to change their fate: climbing up the social ladder.
aaabb

4. The Conflicts within the Field of Education
The people’s needs for higher education resources and the limitation of them
The people’s needs for the high quality of higher education and the scare of it

5. High Quality of Higher Education Resources
Subordinate Universities
985 and 211
Uneven distribution of advanced educational resources

6. Subordinate Universities(24/75)
Peking Uni.
Tsinghua Uni.
Beijing Normal Uni.
Renmin Uni. Of China
China Agricultural Uni.
Beijing Foreign Studies Uni.
Beijing Languages and Culture Uni.
Uni. Of Science and Technology Beijing
Beijing Uni. Of Chemical Technology
Beijing Jiaotong Uni.
Beijing Uni. of Posts and Telecommunications
China Uni. Of Geosciences-Beijing
China Uni. of Mining and Technology-Beijing
China Uni. of Petroleum-Beijing
Beijing Forestry Uni.
Communication Uni. Of China
Central Uni. Of Finance and Economic
China Uni. Of Political Science and Law
Central Conservatory of Music
The Central Academy of Drama
China Central Academy of Fine Arts
Beijing Uni. Of Chinese Medicine
North China Electric Power Uni.
Uni. of International Business and Economic

7. Beijing alone has more universities (26) than the 11 provinces/autonomous regions in Western China combined (17).
In general, Eastern China has more universities than Western China.

9. The Reality: Regional Inequality
The most advanced educational resources/first-ranking universities are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai and the middle region.
Unequal Opportunities:
Students from Western China have a much smaller chance to receive good undergraduate education in their hometowns.
Studying in another province is not easy, either.

10. Regional Inequality continued
Each university has a fixed admission quota for each province
The quota is not evenly distributed
The quota greatly intensifies the competition
Less opportunity: good enough is not enough
Students have to be much better than others to be admitted
This makes studying in another region less possible for many students

11. students taking the exam
The number of the students be accepted by Peking University and the number of students taking the exam by province in 2016
province
Beijing
Tianjin
Hebei
Shanxi
Inner
Mongolia
Liaoning
Jilin
Heilongjiang
Shanghai
Jiangsu
Zhejiang
Anhui
Fujian
Jiangxi
Shandong
Henan
Hubei
Hunan
Guangdong 省市 北京 天津 河北 山西 内蒙 辽宁 吉林
黑龙江 上海 江苏 浙江 安徽 福建 江西 山东 河南 湖北 湖南 广东
Social science 72 18 26 13 19 20 17 12 24 7 46 25 28
Natural science
111 22 15 16 27 21 43
Total
183 38 45 48 37 35 30 40 33 51 39 52 89 53
 students taking the exam
61,200
60,000
423,100
339,100
201,100
218,200
148,000
197,000
51,000
360,400
307,400
509,900
175,000
360,600
710,000
820,000
361,400
401,600
733,000

12. Students taking the exam
(continued)
province
Guangxi
Hainan
Chongqing
Sichuan
Guizhou
Yunnan
Tibet
Shanxi
Gansu
Qinghai
Ningxia
Xinjiang 省市 广西 海南 重庆 四川 贵州 云南 西藏 陕西 甘肃 青海 宁夏 新疆 藏班 疆班
Number social 21 8 22 32 24 19 5 27 15 9 11 23 4
Number natural 16 17 31 20 26 10 6
total 37 39 63 44 35 53 30 45
 Students taking the exam
330,000
60,400
248,900
571,400
373,800
281,100
24,000
328,000
296,00 0
44,600
69,100
166,100

13. Different Exam Questions
Provincial Independent Proposition:
Each province/autonomous regions can come up with their own exam questions for Gao Kao.
The difficulty of the exams varies across regions
Unfairness: some provinces’ students have to study harder than others
Different score requirement: a case in 2016

14. 2016年高考分数线
2016年高考分数线 省市
First-rank social
First-rank natural
Second-rank social
Second-rank natural 北京
583
548
532
494 天津
512
460
424 河北
535
525
416
364 山西
518
519
438 内蒙
477
484
375 辽宁
498
417
313 吉林
531
530
413
402
黑龙江
481
486
401
369 上海
368
360 江苏
355
353
325
315 浙江
603
600 安徽
521
482
473 福建
501
465
403
352 江西
523
529
450
445 山东
537
474
451 河南
517
458
447 湖北
520
350 湖南
476
439 广东
514
508 广西
545
502
400
333 海南
653
602
577
543 重庆
527
435 四川
540
480
453 贵州
551
457
365 云南
560
495 西藏
325/440
285/425
285/355
235/315 陕西
511
470
423 甘肃
504
490
455
435  青海
415
380 宁夏
516
434 新疆
487
464
394

15. Takeaways: Three Conflicts
The demand vs. the limitation
The demand vs. the scare
The reform vs. the unexpected consequences