World's largest exam undergoing amid downpours

Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province, has even deployed three free taxis to each examination spot to assist those in urgent need.

Students in Pingxiang city, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, are ready to take their exam, June 7, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

As a result of all these efforts, a Ministry of Education statement showed, the exam has not been affected by the rainstorms that are predicted to continue for the next 48 hours. Departments in charge have ushered examinees facing being late for the exam to their destinations in a timely manner.

Outside the examination room of the Number One Middle School of Changsha, provincial city of Hunan province, on Friday morning, a girl wearing high-school uniform revealed herself to be a college freshman, only present to encourage her younger generation.

"I came because I was eager to know how my mum felt while waiting outside the room last year," said the girl, who was too shy to reveal her name, explaining that she didn't want to inform her mother of this visit.

Holding umbrellas or hiding under shelters on the sidelines, parents have been waiting anxiously outside of the 310,000 exam rooms at 7,300 venues nationwide.

"It is the most important event of my son's life so I have to see his coming out," said a man surnamed Shen, among a flock of parents who were waiting for an alarm bell to sound the end of the first test on Friday morning.

Ouyang Hongyan in North China's Shanxi province has been working as a volunteer at the event for a decade. Once again this year, the 70-year-old's role is to encourage students and comfort nervous parents.

The old lady, whose two sons work in the United States and Taiyuan respectively, believes it was the college entrance exam that changed their lives.

"I would like to tell others of my sons' stories to make more parents encourage their children to stick to their dream while not compromising the harsh reality," said Ouyang.

On China's Twitter-like Sina weibo, gaokao wishes have topped the list of topics by attracting more than a million posts.

Yu Minhong, co-founder of private education company New Oriental, wrote, "Going to college through the examination may change your life and help you realize your dream, but everyone has their own track in life as well as path toward success. Neither school nor score makes the key to success, but courage, ambition and spirit."

Approximately 9.12 million people are sitting the exam to vie for access to the country's universities and colleges. The number is 30,000 less than last year.