Nearly two months has passed since my last blog dated May 28, 2016. During the past days, I accompanied my daughter's whole process of Gaokao, China's yearly national college enrollment examination.

I got the web-published letter of admission for my daughter from a language university in Beijing yesterday, and this may mean a temporary rest for the past 12 years march for my daughter and our family.

I thoroughly understand all the families who had just experienced the same physical, mental and psychological tests, which featured as China's nation-wide complex. At this moment, I feel a little bit relaxed and have a impulse to express my greetings to my friends here share some stories.

Using this blog, I just make a brief record of my experiences in the past months and I am sure this may also reflex those who have similar situations:

To start with, I'd say I dreamed more than one time of my Gaokao while waiting for my daughter's from May 28 to July 18, 2016. My Gaokao, which took place exactly 30 years ago still hang over for the past decades. The scenes related to Gaokao could clearly and repeatedly appear in my dreams which projected great stress and anxiety upon my in-dream life and daily routine.

I often talked to my wife about this spiritual tortures and not to my surprise, such scenario happened to her also.

The deepest root reason for this had never been officially analyzed by the experts. Personally, I sincerely hope that our country’s related authorities may make an official study on this phenomenon, which I belive it is not rare and individual, but popular and common.

I myself had ever conducted some initial and surficial analyses and made a conclusion. The major elements leading to the periodical dream for Gaokao may includes but not limited to:

1. Gaokao, as the Keju(科举) system adopted by our past dynasties for selecting talents for the nation, assumes a heavy historical task both for the country and the attendees. For us, Gaokao is a fatal process which can determine a person’s destiny. Taking myself as a example, my hometown is in the countryside where was then poor and backward economically. If I could not passe the Gaokao, it will be sure for me to follow my parents and siblings’ fate: devoting my whole life to the farmland.

2. The hardship in preparing Gaokao for more than ten years and expecting the admission letter coming out is an extremely excruciating and grueling memory. Without any doubt, it had been rooted in your mind, the bottom of your mind and soul, or even had been planted in our genes which may affects our descendants in a visible or invisible way.

Just the above two factors, it is quite enough to influence a person’s life, including his/her night’s dream and daytime routine.

Secondly, I’d say, we tried our best to diminish the negative experience which might be had by my daughter. The measures we took in the past two months consists of ample and healthy foods, reasonable timing for her study, exercising, sleep and socializing with classmate and friends (at my Gaokao time, almost no other activities except study). The most important arrangement may be reserving a hotel room for the two examination days. We, by referring to my colleague’s advice, ordered a hotel room over ten days before the Gaokao days, and this plan guaranteed her cozy and full sleeping time. Of course, the expenses, you can imagine, was much higher than its normal rate.

Ok, today, let’s stop here.