College Entrance Examination Restored

A Decade Without Examinations

The college entrance examination system (gaokao) was abolished in 1966 at the start of the Cultural Revolution. For the following decade, university admissions were based on political criteria and recommendations from work units, favoring those from "correct" class backgrounds and with revolutionary credentials. Education at all levels suffered enormously; university education was effectively suspended until 1970, when a limited number of "worker-peasant-soldier students" were admitted without examinations.

Restoration in 1977

Deng Xiaoping, rehabilitated in 1977, made the restoration of the gaokao a personal priority as a symbol of the return to meritocracy and intellectual values. The exam was hastily reinstated for December 1977, giving candidates only weeks to prepare. An extraordinary 5.7 million people sat for the examination — the largest cohort ever — competing for approximately 273,000 university places. Applicants ranged in age from teenagers to thirty-year-olds who had spent their youth in the countryside.

Social Significance

The restoration of the gaokao was experienced by millions as a moment of profound personal liberation — the possibility of advancement through knowledge and ability rather than political loyalty. It sent a powerful signal about the direction of the reform era. The exam became the central institution of Chinese educational competition and social mobility, a role it retains today. The 1977 cohort of gaokao graduates — who went on to become leaders in academia, business, and government — is sometimes called China's most consequential graduating class.