The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China

“In this well-written and thought-provoking book, Jia and Li explore the means by which the gaokao shapes family life, politics and society in China. The authors draw on their own personal experience to show that it allows those from underprivileged backgrounds to rise to important academic positions, as well as to the top of social, economic and political life…The Highest Exam is the definitive account of the gaokao and should be read by all those who want to understand Chinese society.”―Daniel A. Bell, Literary Review

“[A] fascinating study.”―Elizabeth Economy, Foreign Affairs

“Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li, two of the authors of The Highest Exam, have taken the gaokao, and they combine their analysis with memoir…On the basis of their own careers, one might expect them to praise the gaokao. Yet the evidence they assemble exposes the hidden inequalities of the great equaliser.”―Iza Ding, London Review of Books

“The Highest Exam is an exceptional and unusually compelling contribution to the study of Chinese education, governance and society…Ultimately, this is an outstanding book: analytically rigorous, narratively compelling and intellectually generous. It opens the ‘playbook’ of the gaokao with remarkable clarity, revealing not only how the system works but why it persists and what it means for China and the world. It deserves a wide readership and will undoubtedly shape scholarly and public debates on Chinese education for years to come.”―Cora Lingling Xu, China Quarterly

“Engaging and fascinating…The authors draw on their extensive research regarding the gaokao exam and their deep knowledge of Chinese institutions more broadly. They also intersperse their academic discourse with personal narratives of their experiences growing up in China and subsequently living in the United States.”―Ofer Malamud, Journal of Economic Literature

“Li and Jia’s personal stories are captivating in part because each of them beat the odds and excelled in ways most of their childhood classmates could only dream of, and also because the dozen years that separate them in age mean that their experiences with the gaokao differed insignificant and instructive ways.”―Susan Blumberg-Kason, Los Angeles Review of Books

“[A] compact but ambitious new book…Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li give their English-speaking readers a guided tour of China’s elite (re)production factory against the backdrop of the country’s development and globalisation.”―Frank Yuan, Inside Story

“A useful overview of the gaokao and its tremendous significance, on the individual as well as national level.”―M. A. Orthofer, Complete Review

“Paints a landscape of vast inequality passing itself off as meritocracy―an exposé of an increasingly powerful global nation and a warning to any society, east or west, that still believes in teaching to the test…[this] detailed history of China’s educational testing system illuminates the nation’s values in a competitive world.”―Kirkus Reviews

“If you want to understand Chinese society, education is perhaps the best place to start. And Chinese education is all about the gaokao, the college entrance examination. With The Highest Exam, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li have done a remarkable job of combining their personal stories with eye-opening statistics and analysis of the larger system. This is an important, thoughtful book.”―Peter Hessler, author of River Town and Oracle Bones

“China is unique in many ways, but we don’t know which aspect is the most significant. This book proposes that its examination culture is the key, opening up a whole new way of thinking about the economic differences in the world. Profound and fascinating in equal measure.”―James A. Robinson, Nobel laureate and coauthor of Why Nations Fail

“China’s nationwide college entrance exam, which looms large over the life of students and families, is rarely discussed in depth outside the country. Now, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li examine the roots and implications of this exceptional Chinese institution, expanding the discussion in unexpected ways and demonstrating its global significance. Drawing on their own life stories, they offer an account that is moving, personal, and often even funny. Highly recommended.”―Barry Naughton, author of The Chinese Economy

“In this fascinating book, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li combine their professional expertise as economists with their personal experiences of studying in China and parenting in the US to examine the Chinese education system, which they characterize as a centralized hierarchical tournament. They show how it both shapes and reflects Chinese society―and increasingly influences the education experience in America as well.”―Alvin Roth, Nobel laureate and author of Who Gets What―and Why

“Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li have written a remarkable book that combines history, data, and personal experience to paint a unique, deep, and rich portrait of the Chinese education system and its culture. They show us not only its implications for China, but how it sheds light on education beyond China and its role in society.”―Matthew O. Jackson, author of The Human Network

Hongbin Li is Codirector of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions as well as Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He was previously Professor of Economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Claire Cousineau, a writer and a former researcher at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, is pursuing her MBA at Duke University.