Friends become competitors. Many students distance themselves from family and peers to study.
41.4% of Chinese secondary students experience anxiety and 24.4% show depressive symptoms, linked to extreme academic pressure starting in preschool. The Gaokao's influence extends beyond students to families and teachers, who face intense pressure and economic sacrifices tied to academic performance metrics.
- 41.4% of Chinese secondary students experience anxiety; 24.4% show depressive symptoms
- The Gaokao was established in 1952 and solidified as the primary university entrance exam in 1977
- Nearly 50% of students fail the Zhongkao (upper secondary entrance exam) and are forced into vocational training
- Academic pressure begins in preschool and increases suicide risk among students
- The government banned written exams for ages 6-7 in 2021 and introduced new restrictions on homework and testing in 2026
China's highly competitive university entrance exam (Gaokao) has created a mental health crisis among students, with studies showing 24-41% experiencing depression, anxiety, and stress. The government has introduced new regulations to reduce academic pressure.
In China, the path to university begins long before a student ever sits down to take the Gaokao—the national entrance examination that will largely determine their future. It begins in preschool, sometimes earlier, in a system built on centuries of competitive pressure that has calcified into something approaching national trauma. A study published in PLOS One in September 2025 surveyed 2,716 secondary school students and found that 41.4 percent experienced anxiety, 24.4 percent showed depressive symptoms, and 15.6 percent reported significant stress. The primary culprits were straightforward: attending secondary school itself, academic performance below 60 percent, and minimal psychological support from family or peers.
This educational model did not emerge yesterday. It traces back to the imperial civil service examinations that began around 600 A.D., when advancement depended on intellectual merit—a radical idea rooted in Confucian philosophy, which held that all people were born equal in potential and could improve themselves morally and intellectually. That person who improved most would rise in society. When the People's Republic was established in 1949, the new government inherited a nation where 80 percent of the population could not read. Only one in five school-age children were enrolled in school. Education became the tool to close that gap. The Gaokao was formally established in 1952 and solidified as the primary gateway to university in 1977. It has remained so ever since, determining the futures of millions of students each year.
But the pressure does not wait for the Gaokao itself. Students live what is called a "life of three points"—home, school, dining hall—a monotonous cycle of relentless study. The Zhongkao, the entrance exam for upper secondary school, comes first, and nearly half of all students fail it, forced into vocational training that carries social stigma in urban middle-class families. The stress begins in elementary school, sometimes in preschool. A 2023 study published in BMC Psychiatry found that 23 percent of secondary students showed depressive symptoms and 13.9 percent showed anxiety symptoms. A 2022 survey by the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that 17.5 percent of children aged 6 to 16 experienced insomnia, anxiety, and mild depression. Among university students, 27.3 percent reported mild to severe depression and 33.4 percent reported similar anxiety levels. The academic pressure does not merely damage mental health—it increases suicide risk.
The intensity of competition means students are evaluated almost entirely by their grades. This creates a form of social marginalization for those who underperform. Friends become competitors. Many students distance themselves from family and peers to study, creating isolation and a sense of helplessness. They reach adolescence without understanding their own interests or vocational direction, only exhaustion and frustration. The pressure extends far beyond the student. In Chinese culture, unlike the West, a child's academic success is not a personal achievement—it is the family's achievement. Families make enormous personal and economic sacrifices to give their children a chance at success. Teachers, meanwhile, are evaluated and compensated based on their students' Gaokao performance, which affects their salary, reputation, and benefits. The exam shapes the prestige of entire schools.
The government has begun to respond. In 2021, it banned written exams for children aged 6 and 7. This year, the Ministry of Education introduced new directives: prohibiting excessive homework assignments, restricting frequent testing and using tests as a mechanism for student selection, protecting recess time, and banning rewards or punishments for teachers based on student performance. The ministry also strengthened earlier requirements that primary and secondary students receive at least two hours of daily physical activity. Preschools are now forbidden from teaching primary school curriculum or using teaching methods from higher grades.
These measures represent a genuine attempt to break a cycle that has run for more than a thousand years. Whether they will succeed remains an open question. The system is not simply a policy choice—it is woven into the culture, into family expectations, into the way millions of Chinese people understand what it means to improve oneself and rise in the world. Changing that requires not just new rules but a fundamental shift in how an entire society measures human worth.
Citações Notáveis
The weight that the Gaokao carries in students' lives is enormous, though competition in China's education system actually begins in kindergarten.— David Doncel Abad, president of the Spanish Association for East Asian Studies
In China there is the belief that academic success depends much on constant work and not on innate ability.— Lan Zhang, East Asia expert who studied and lived in China
A large majority of Chinese families put all their effort into their children's educational success. Unlike Western culture, where educational success is seen as individual, in China a child's good grades increase the family's prestige, not just the child's.— David Doncel Abad
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does this exam carry so much weight? It's just one test.
Because in China, it's not just a test—it's the test. It determines which university you attend, which shapes your career, which shapes your entire life. And families have invested everything into it, sometimes for years. There's no safety net.
But surely there are other ways to get into university now?
There are alternatives, yes. Some universities accept students through interviews and portfolios. But the Gaokao remains the main route, and the cultural weight of it hasn't shifted. Parents still see it as the defining moment.
The study mentions that 41 percent have anxiety. That's a huge number. How do students cope?
Many don't, not well. Some isolate themselves completely to study. Others develop physical symptoms—insomnia, headaches. The ones who fail the Zhongkao, the earlier exam, often feel their futures are already decided at age 15.
Is this pressure unique to students, or does it affect families too?
It's a family crisis. Parents sacrifice everything—money, time, their own wellbeing—because their child's success is their success. If the child fails, the family feels shame. It's not individual pressure; it's collective.
The government is trying to change things. Will it work?
The rules are real—no excessive homework, no constant testing. But the culture runs deeper than policy. Parents still believe their children must excel. Teachers still know their jobs depend on test scores. You can't legislate away a thousand years of belief in one generation.