Editor’s note: This is a translated and edited version of an article from the Chinese site www.ifeng.com. The article is, in a sense, the Beijing media’s attempt to make sense of why some of Beijing’s best and brightest students have “forsaken” the finest academic institution in Mainland China, Peking University (PKU) and instead chosen to enroll at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

The education system in China has often come under fire from western critics, and appears to be increasing criticized by Chinese as well. Western critics claim that a Chinese education solely focuses on the mechanical memorization of information, and lacks any creativity or analytical development. The end goal of is to pass the College Entrance Exam (CEE); after that, university is more or less a cakewalk. This sentiment is not lost on the Chinese. There is a popular saying with China’s 20-somethings today, that when you go to college in mainland China, you-never-study, a play on the English word “university”.

Yet, Western and Chinese critics alike cannot overlook the fact that in December 2010, students from a Shanghai school were ranked the smartest in the world by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (In a 2009 OECD survey, China was however ranked last in the 21 polled countries for its students’ imagination and ranked 17th for their creativity). Downplaying the West’s criticisms, which are no doubt partially grounded in the hysterical fear that China will take over the world soon, problems with the Chinese educational system do exist, and the government is well aware of them, having recently issued a 10-year national education plan (2010-2020) to help alleviate some of the burdens currently plaguing primary and secondary school students.

However, to simply say that Chinese students are complacent with their education is a completely ungrounded argument. If in the past, university-bound students in China have relied on high exam scores to get into the best universities in China like PKU and Tsinghua, now, they seem more likely to use them to get in to foreign universities. This illustrates that students are not simply products of the flawed Chinese educational system, but in fact are able to “think for themselves” and desire the best education, just like any Western student. 

Just last week, Beijing’s three highest scoring students again proved this to be true as they all turned down PKU to instead study at HKU.

Top CEE scorers in Beijing Yi Sizhao伊思昭

Top three CEE scorers accepted to both PKU and HKU

This year three female students from Beijing each scored 676 points on the CEE, and in doing so formed a three-way tie for smartest student in Beijing. Those students are: Yi Sizhao from the High School affiliated to Renmin University, Zhu Zhu from No. 2 High School of Beijing Normal University, and Liang Qian from Beijing No. 4 High School. Their high scores, along with the increased media attention brought to them has created a favorable situation for these three girls, more or less guaranteeing them that they can get into the university of their choice, even the best schools in China, such as PKU or Tsinghua, or outside of China, as the case may be. 

Near the end of June, HKU held student interviews in Beijing, and Yi Sizhao and Zhu Zhu showed up to be interviewed and were accepted. Liang Qian, although she also had applied to HKU didn’t attend this interview session as she had previously been recommended by her principal and was already accepted to HKU. Now, these girls, waiting to hear back from each of the universities that they applied to had to start weighing the decision of where to go.

They all turned down PKU and chose HKU

The deadline for admission to universities in Hong Kong is July 7th. However, in Mainland China, July 7th is only the beginning of the admissions process. And according to the Hong Kong school admission guidelines, students who submit an “admission notice acknowledgement” to a Hong Kong University will then not be eligible to be accepted to any mainland universities.

On July 1, a worker at HKU's China Office confirmed that HKU had already received "admission notice acknowledgements" (that is statement of intent to enroll) from the three students and that they had already paid the fees to reserve them spots at the university. What this implies then, is that these three girls, even without knowing whether or not they were admitted to PKU, had already decided that they wanted to attend HKU. According to the article in the Beijing News, Yi Sizhao has chosen to study Journalism, Liang Qian has chosen to study Social Sciences, and Zhu Zhu has chosen to get a double major in Business Administration and Law, all at HKU.

Why Did They Choose to Study at HKU and not PKU?

In the Beijing News article, the journalist interviewed one of the girls, Liang Qian, who struggled to answer this very question. He mentioned to her that previous media reports had all indicated that she seemed keen on going to PKU, to which she responded that she had never made a full commitment to attend PKU or any other school.

Later, the reporter flat out asked her why she chose HKU over PKU:

Beijing News: Was this decision is your own or was it your family's decision?

Liang Qian: I talked it over with my family, but it was mostly my decision.

And then asking her if it was a matter of money, as she (and the other girls) had all received full scholarships worth $160,000 HKD for each year of university. Her response to whether or not the scholarship influenced her decision:

Liang Qian: Actually, the scholarship didn't really factor in.

The most candid Liang Qian was about her chose in attending HKU was "I want to try out a different educational system":

Liang Qian: Its difficult to say. In the past, I didn’t really understand Hong Kong, but I want to; also I wanted to try out a university whose educational system is different to mainland universities.

It may still be quite some time before the Chinese education system is fully reformed, and until that happens, the trend of high-scoring Chinese students choosing to study outside of the country will likely continue to grow. But all is not lost. This “brain drain” of gifted students from China, may be just the wake up call that is needed to spur a more rapid reform of the Chinese education system.
 

Source: ifeng.com
 

Related links
An Education: How China’s System Differs from the West’s
Quantitative in the Extreme – China's Gaokao Test
Top Gaokao Scorer Chooses University of HK over Tsinghua

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Keywords: College entrance exam in China quality of education in Mainland China Peking University and University of Hong Kong comparison creativity and analytical thinking in China