Thanks for the reply! I knew some of the sites but not others, and not some facts about the ones I did (e.g. I knew Xiaohongshu was "Chinese Instagram", but not how it originated). I've always found the omni-app status of Wechat interesting, and wondered if it's an influence on Elon Musk's occasional insistence he wants to make Twitter an omni-app of the same kind.
The 50% failure rate is...eyebrow-raising, but I'm not alone in saying that. One thing I've heard is that absolute test pass marks tend to be higher in more marginalized provinces like Shandong, but possibly also that the *tests themselves* have harder questions. Is the part about the tests themselves being harder true, or is it a game of telephone from people's original complaints?
Shandong isn't that marginalised, speaking as someone from Shandong. It's just got the problematic situation of having a whole fuckton of population and not a lot of in-state universities that are top ranked. And yes, not every province uses the same test. There is a standardised National Test, but even that has two versions, and about 5-6 states will use each version. The other states will write their own exam. I think either Henan or Hebei (I forget which) is notorious for almost always having tests that are way harder than the standardised National Test.
Right around July-ish, I predict, just about every other weibo post is going to be about this year's national exams and which tests were the hardest. You'll get to read about it plenty then!
Hi hi I have a question for the next FAQ: Could you explain the differences/stereotypes associated with each major city or region of China? For example you mention that entrance exams are less competitive if you grow up in Xinjiang or Tibet - does that affect how Tibetan people are viewed in other parts of China?
If you've already written about it maybe I'll stumble upon it. I'm binging all of your posts right now
I've only done one FAQ before, I don't think I've answered this question yet. But I do FAQs once every month due to popular demand. I'm definitely going to save this question for the next one.
You might have to wait another day or two. My toddler brought back some kind of flu from hell from the daycare, and it's just knocked me right off my feet.
Oh wow that graduation quota system, and the "if you rent instead of owning, your kids can't go to public school" bit, are both very shocking and eye-opening for me, especially compared to the emphasis here in the US on raising high school graduation rates
I have a clarifying question - when you talk about "buying a house" do you exclusively mean detached single homes, or does owning your own apartment/condo unit count?
Owning your own apartment unit counts. That's 95% of housing that people buy (at least for the purpose of qualifying for a school). Detached singles homes basically are never built unless they're designed to be super fancy mansions for really wealthy people. Even in relatively rural areas! All the newest real estate development in my hometown are all acres of apartment buildings with 10, 20 units in each that people buy. Because even in rural areas, Chinese population is kind of insane? Like, I live in a smaller town in the US, and it's got about 20,000 people. My hometown in China is just about exactly as big geographically, but it has 650,000 people. It's ridiculous. And this is considered very much a super rural village. Not a city at all!
I did some research--so the reason you kids can't go to public school if you cannot get a hukou, a family ID, if you rent instead of own. Not only does not having a hukou prevent your children from going to public school, but up until 2005, not having a hukou where you reside prevents you from seeking any employment except the basest of manual labour. You also need hukou in order to get license plates for your car. If your hukou is in, say, Shandong, and you're working in Hebei, then your health insurance will only cover you if you seek treatment in Shandong. Your social security checks also aren't based on how much you pay into it, like in America, but on where you register for retirement. If your hukou is in a major city like Shanghai or Beijing, you'll get way more money. If you lose your ID or passport and need a replacement, you can also only apply where your hukou is, which is incredibly annoying if you're working out of state.
The main reason that it's a requirement to be a homeowner in order for your kids to go to public school is that, like I mentioned in reply to someone else, the national exams can be way easier in some areas than others. And the competition can be way chiller in some areas than others. This is to prevent everyone from flooding into the easiest areas, like Beijing, to take the exams. In order to qualify for taking the easiest exam, you've got to be a landowner in Beijing. It's sort of like if Manhattan residents could get into Ivy Leagues with 500 points less on their SATs.
Ok I am now just as shocked by the system not letting you have health insurance or retirement benefits or many kinds of documents if you don't own a home, why would they restrict it so people who rent can't have those things, that sounds so pointlessly discriminatory
Is it as big of a problem as it sounds like to me? How common is it to not be able to afford a house at all?
Thanks for the reply! I knew some of the sites but not others, and not some facts about the ones I did (e.g. I knew Xiaohongshu was "Chinese Instagram", but not how it originated). I've always found the omni-app status of Wechat interesting, and wondered if it's an influence on Elon Musk's occasional insistence he wants to make Twitter an omni-app of the same kind.
The 50% failure rate is...eyebrow-raising, but I'm not alone in saying that. One thing I've heard is that absolute test pass marks tend to be higher in more marginalized provinces like Shandong, but possibly also that the *tests themselves* have harder questions. Is the part about the tests themselves being harder true, or is it a game of telephone from people's original complaints?
Shandong isn't that marginalised, speaking as someone from Shandong. It's just got the problematic situation of having a whole fuckton of population and not a lot of in-state universities that are top ranked. And yes, not every province uses the same test. There is a standardised National Test, but even that has two versions, and about 5-6 states will use each version. The other states will write their own exam. I think either Henan or Hebei (I forget which) is notorious for almost always having tests that are way harder than the standardised National Test.
Right around July-ish, I predict, just about every other weibo post is going to be about this year's national exams and which tests were the hardest. You'll get to read about it plenty then!
Hi hi I have a question for the next FAQ: Could you explain the differences/stereotypes associated with each major city or region of China? For example you mention that entrance exams are less competitive if you grow up in Xinjiang or Tibet - does that affect how Tibetan people are viewed in other parts of China?
If you've already written about it maybe I'll stumble upon it. I'm binging all of your posts right now
I've only done one FAQ before, I don't think I've answered this question yet. But I do FAQs once every month due to popular demand. I'm definitely going to save this question for the next one.
:) Thanks for the support!
Thanks for answering my question! This whole post has been super interesting - please do another FAQ every month.
Can't wait for your post about feminism in China!
You might have to wait another day or two. My toddler brought back some kind of flu from hell from the daycare, and it's just knocked me right off my feet.
This was amazing thanks so much
Aww, thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
This is amazing, thanks! Would love to have the opportunity to ask you questions once a month.
I will definitely make it a thing then!
> Only 50% of middle schoolers can graduate to go to high school. Only 50% of high schoolers can graduate to go to university.
wait, WHAT?? holy crap
Yes, I know. When the policy got passed, everybody was like, "??? What???" I honestly can't imagine who would think this was a good idea.
This was incredibly insightful, thank you! Please make it a once a month thing if you can afford the time :)
You got it! :)
Oh wow that graduation quota system, and the "if you rent instead of owning, your kids can't go to public school" bit, are both very shocking and eye-opening for me, especially compared to the emphasis here in the US on raising high school graduation rates
I have a clarifying question - when you talk about "buying a house" do you exclusively mean detached single homes, or does owning your own apartment/condo unit count?
Owning your own apartment unit counts. That's 95% of housing that people buy (at least for the purpose of qualifying for a school). Detached singles homes basically are never built unless they're designed to be super fancy mansions for really wealthy people. Even in relatively rural areas! All the newest real estate development in my hometown are all acres of apartment buildings with 10, 20 units in each that people buy. Because even in rural areas, Chinese population is kind of insane? Like, I live in a smaller town in the US, and it's got about 20,000 people. My hometown in China is just about exactly as big geographically, but it has 650,000 people. It's ridiculous. And this is considered very much a super rural village. Not a city at all!
I did some research--so the reason you kids can't go to public school if you cannot get a hukou, a family ID, if you rent instead of own. Not only does not having a hukou prevent your children from going to public school, but up until 2005, not having a hukou where you reside prevents you from seeking any employment except the basest of manual labour. You also need hukou in order to get license plates for your car. If your hukou is in, say, Shandong, and you're working in Hebei, then your health insurance will only cover you if you seek treatment in Shandong. Your social security checks also aren't based on how much you pay into it, like in America, but on where you register for retirement. If your hukou is in a major city like Shanghai or Beijing, you'll get way more money. If you lose your ID or passport and need a replacement, you can also only apply where your hukou is, which is incredibly annoying if you're working out of state.
The main reason that it's a requirement to be a homeowner in order for your kids to go to public school is that, like I mentioned in reply to someone else, the national exams can be way easier in some areas than others. And the competition can be way chiller in some areas than others. This is to prevent everyone from flooding into the easiest areas, like Beijing, to take the exams. In order to qualify for taking the easiest exam, you've got to be a landowner in Beijing. It's sort of like if Manhattan residents could get into Ivy Leagues with 500 points less on their SATs.
Ok I am now just as shocked by the system not letting you have health insurance or retirement benefits or many kinds of documents if you don't own a home, why would they restrict it so people who rent can't have those things, that sounds so pointlessly discriminatory
Is it as big of a problem as it sounds like to me? How common is it to not be able to afford a house at all?