Studying is harmful
Iza Ding: China sits the Gaokao, 5 February 2026
The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China
by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li with Claire Cousineau.
Harvard, 256 pp., £24.95, September 2025,978 0 674 29539 1 Show More
by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li with Claire Cousineau.
Harvard, 256 pp., £24.95, September 2025,
“... It’s almost impossible to read any work on meritocracy without being reminded that the word was first used in mid-20th-century Britain to portray a dystopian society, a rigid caste system in which a smug elite claimed power on the basis of superior effort and ability. But it was imperial China where meritocratic ideals were first brought to life ... ”
