Another year, another gaokao (高考), China’s national college entrance exam. Held across the country on 7-10 June, this year over 13 million students took the exams.
In recent years around this time, live-stream and social media feeds are flooded with "gaokao college application planning advisors" (高考志愿规划师), who charge for services to advise on the complex and highly competitive process of applying for universities, known as “填报志愿” in Chinese, which is essentially choosing your preferred universities and subjects.
Cumulatively parents spent 1.09 billion yuan (over $150 million dollars) this year on hiring gaokao planning advisors, with reportedly over 90% of candidates using them.
Zhang Xuefeng (张雪峰) is the most successful brand name entrepreneur in this space. He’s outspoken, straight-talking, and sometimes controversial, and has built a successful business based around university application planning.
His "Dream Card" package (梦想卡), a combination of digital training and application support, was priced at 12,999 yuan ($1,800 ) this year, and sold out within 20 minutes. The premium tier “Dream Fulfilment Card” (圆梦卡) was priced at 18,999 yuan ($2,600) and also sold out. Some parents even hire Zhang for 1:1 consultancy, for which he charges the equivalent of $14,000 to $28,000 per hour.
In recent years, Zhang has drawn criticism from some parents with his direct, and sometimes offensive opinions on subjects like media studies and the humanities, with comments like this:
"Majoring in humanities means you will end up in the service industry — to put it bluntly, it’s all about ‘sucking up’.”
文科归根到底就是服务业，说白了，就是在“舔”。 [2]
Despite the controversy, Zhang's services are still in high demand, and he remains popular.
But earlier in June just before the gaokao, he made an abrupt and emotional announcement during a live broadcast:
“It’s not easy working in our line of business. I’ve encroached on too many people’s interests, and there are things I can’t be entirely open about. But it’s also possible… that this might be the last time you see me online.
No matter what happens in the future, I hope everyone will remember: Zhang Xuefeng has lived up to everyone’s trust, and done good to society…”
“干我们这个行当不容易的，我动了太多人的蛋糕了，有些东西我不能说得过于直白。但是也有可能，这是你最后一次在网上看见我……
后面不管发生什么事情，我希望大家一定记住，张雪峰对得起大家，对得起这个社会……” [1]
Note: Zhang didn’t actually disappear! He continued to broadcast to his audience, with all his courses selling out.
Related
Unlike many other emotional outbursts of high profile influencers broadcast live, the media coverage of Zhang Xuefeng’s tearful self-imposed farewell gave little attention to what Zhang said, or why he said it.
Instead, most coverage focussed on the problems caused by China’s college application advisors—accusing service providers like Zhang of being “anxiety-mongers" (贩卖焦虑).
The recent surge in these services is driven by intensifying pressures on kids from their "chicken blood parents" (鸡娃家长)—translated as “helicopter” or “tiger” parents.
In the live chats during broadcasts, comments such as this from parents are common:
“This [applying for university] is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — you don’t want to risk your child’s future, so leave it to the professionals.”
一辈子一次的大事，专业的事还是交给专业的人，别耽误了孩子
So livestreams become echo chambers, amplifying the angst, and driving sales.
But the quality of services varies widely, with many disappointed customers citing issues like poor service, and inexperienced advisors handling dozens of clients.
The hype around “popular majors” (热门专业) fuelled by short video content by Zhang and others makes parents obsess even more over employment prospects for their kids in "hot" fields like artificial intelligence or electronic engineering.
Some commentators compare this behaviour to emotionally-driven speculation in the stock market, with parents rushing to apply for these hot subjects as they would blindly buy stocks of the “next big thing”. Like stocks, this pushes admission scores higher, making them even harder to get into.
There’s a longer term problem too: while this might deliver a short-term bump in much needed talent, it could lead to an oversupply of graduates in these areas, further driving the already high levels of graduate unemployment.
In contrast, less popular subjects are compared to bad assets—ignored and left like bankrupted half-built real estate developments.
Some subjects are being deprioritised or even cancelled altogether, leading to concerns that university programs are becoming less diverse and more "homogenised".
So, that’s what we’re exploring this week!
🎧RTM Podcast Preview
This week on the RTM Advanced podcast, we explain must-know lingo to help you get through conversations about the confusing world of applying for college places in China, including:
“Reallocation” (调剂)
“Fail to get matched” (滑档)
“Fill out college applications” (填报志愿)
Tune in at 7 minutes where we break down what they mean, how native speakers use them, and how you can use them in real conversations.
Favourite Five
1. 卖惨 mài cǎn
playing the victim, seeking sympathy
嗅出危险的张雪峰，以看似卖惨的示弱，实现全网亲证的自保 – Sensing danger, Zhang Xuefeng appeared to show weakness by playing the victim, but in fact was protecting himself with the internet as his witness. [1]
2. 天坑 tiān kēng
trap major, dead-end choice
选大学专业时，不能一概而论地说某个专业是“天坑” – When choosing a college major, you can't just label a certain major as a trap. [3]
3. 参差不齐 cēn cī bù qí
uneven, inconsistent
市场服务水平参差不齐 – The service quality on the market is inconsistent. [3]
Related:
良莠不齐 liáng yǒu bù qí – mixed quality
4. 填报志愿 tián bào zhì yuàn
fill out college applications
填报志愿是个“技术活”，报高了掉档，报低了浪费分 – Filling out college applications is no easy feat — aim too high and you risk missing out on your top options; aim too low and you waste your score. [2]
Related:
高报 gāo bào – college application
志愿填报 zhì yuàn tián bào – college application filing
5. 动了别人的蛋糕 dòng le bié rén de dàn gāo
encroaching on someone’s interest
干我们这个行当不容易的，我动了太多人的蛋糕了，有些东西我不能说得过于直白 – It’s not easy working in our line of business. I’ve encroached on too many people’s interests, and there are things I can’t be entirely open about. [1]
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