Why Chinese Students Study So Insanely Hard

Join my newsletter: https://newsletter.szuchan.com/ Students in a Chinese high school studied with IV drips of amino acids hanging from classroom ceilings because the state subsidized them for exam preparation. This isn't about tiger parents or Confucian values: it's about a 1,400-year-old sorting system that created the world's most intense academic competition. Over 13 million Chinese teenagers now take the gaokao exam each June, shutting down traffic and construction around test centers, but the modern pressure comes from something far deeper than culture. This video traces the gaokao back to the keju, the imperial civil service examination that ran from 605 CE until 1905, to understand why Chinese students study harder than almost anyone else on earth. 0:00 Opener 0:43 Intro 1:59 The Sorting Machine 6:00 The Cycle Restarts 7:41 The Factory 12:48 What Breaks 16:18 Why It Won’t Stop 18:49 “Trying to Change Our Destinies” 20:55 Wrap Up