college entrance exams

Jian Shuo summarizes the Chinese college entrance exam process and shares his personal story (as well as some nice photos of what an event it is here).

Danwei collects the essay questions for the national and provincial/municipal composition sections:

• National: Unexpected yet within reason. Students were given a quote by Niels Bohr about how not being afraid to look foolish in front of his students was the ultimate reason for his success in physics. Form of writing, approach, and title were not set.
• National II: Position and Value
• Beijing: On "Peace". The character 安 can mean security, safety, tranquility, ease, and satisfaction, among other things. Students were asked to choose a perspective and discuss it. Literati quoted in yesterday's Mirror were impressed by this question - easy to approach, hard to write well, and free of politics.
• Shanghai: Students were given three scenes: (1) the idealism of martial arts fiction and the glamor and sentiment of romance novels enticing readers; (2) the song Deskmate illustrating the life of the contemporary middle school student; and (3) elegant classical music introduced through advertisements being seen as the melody of commerce rather than music. Students were asked to reflect on contemporary culture's influence on their growth and development. (no poetry)
• Tianjin: Leave it for tomorrow (no poetry)
• Chongqing: Two parts: 1. Write instructions on the topic of Chopsticks
  2. Write 600 words on the subject of Self-mockery (no poetry)
• Jiangsu: In ancient times, an essay was described as having "the head of a phoenix, the body of a hog, and the tail of a leopard." Students were asked to write on this subject.
• Guangdong: Commemoration. Students were given a short explanation of "commemoration" and asked to choose an approach, a form of writing, and a title.
• Zhejiang: One branch, one leaf, one world: The question cited a poem about the fall of one leaf bringing Autumn. (no poetry)
• Shandong: Win-win wisdom. Students were presented with a fable about a carpenter having his life saved by the stonemason he was competing with.
• Hubei: Given a quotation from Wang Guowei about a poet needing to experience the universe from both within and without, students were to write their understanding of its implications. Approach, form, and title were not fixed.
• Hunan: Experience of Running. Discussion or narrative.
• Jiangxi: Face. Choose a topic and write.
• Liaoning: This year's flowers are redder than last year's
• Fujian: Two pictures: (1) a standard circle, stable, with small circumference enclosing a large area; (2) a knobby circle, non-uniform, with a large circumference enclosing a small area. Students were asked to choose a topic to write.

I'll leave you to draw conclusions about what the topics say about each region.