Over 2,000 students in Shexian, an ancient town in Anhui Province, have had their college entrance exam postponed twice this year.
Gaokao in Shexian resumed after flood abated. Photo by He Xiangyi
By HE Xiangyi
China’s national college entrance exam, gaokao, usually takes place on June 7-8. COVID-19 meant it was put off for a month, but in Shexian, students had to suffer another wait.
On exam day, July 7, a terrible flood hit the town. In three hours, 120 millimeters of rain fell and the rivers around Shenxian poured water into town. Among over 2,000 students, only about 500 made it to the exam venue on time.
The plum rains began in June. For more than ten days, Shexian was soaked.
Sanitation worker Liu Lan has lived in the town for more than 60 years and felt the absence of thunder this year and saw the mist lingering for too long.
Early at the wee hours of July 7, as Liu prepared for work, the rain was pouring down and she thought about not going. But it was the first day of gaokao. One of the exam venues was in her area, so she felt a bigger obligation than usual, but soon after she left home, she got a call from work, telling her not to bother. As the conversation ended, the water swirled about her ankles.
Song Lan who owned a small convenience store in Shexian passed a sleepless night on the eve of gaokao.
Her two daughters were staying in town but Song was back at home at her store, leaving them in peace. The noise of the rain did nothing to calm her nerves until around 3am, when someone shouted, “Wake up and run for your lives!”
When Song rush downstairs to her store, it was already under 10 centimeters of water. She took what she could upstairs but was more worried about her daughter than her stock, so she jumped in the car and headed for Shexian. The only road had been blocked a landslide. As she waited for the excavators to clear the way, the rain worsened.
Underway again, she was stopped by a traffic police officer and told the road ahead flooded. The whole of Shexian was flooded.
Wei Ruhui, a gaokao candidate, had no idea what was about to happen as she got on the bus. The bus trundled like a tortoise through the water. No one made a sound until the bus broke down and they were told to get off.
The teachers marshaled the students to walk to the venue, but that quickly proved impossible in the downpour. They took shelter and waited.
Yu Mingming, another candidate, was stranded in the middle of nowhere as the bus he was on stalled in the flooded street.
“The teachers told us soldiers would take us to the venue by boat,” Yu said. “But the next thing I knew the exam was canceled.”
After three or four years of build-up to the exam, students were not only soaked through and nervous, they were disheartened.
Yu was shocked by the view outside the window. The town was an ocean, with cars floating in muddy water. Many houses were gone, only the points of the roof to be seen.
Home to half a million people and with a history of more than 2,000 years, Shenxian’s name means “where mountains and rivers meet.” It is where Huizhou culture began and tourists come for the Hui architecture.
Born in Shexian more than 40 years before, Hu Ge had never seen such a flood. He got a call at 3:30am from the Shexian emergency bureau, telling him two families were trapped in Yuliang village, home to a dam built in the Tang dynasty (618-907). He called four members of his rescue team and drove to Yuliang where the water was waist-deep and the streets too narrow for boats.
Hu and his team had no choice but to wade through the soupy water and carry the stranded villagers out on their shoulders. Drenched and exhausted, no sooner was the rescue over than Hu got another call, asking him to go back to Shexian to help with the students.
The highway back to the town was completely submerged, so Hu paddled towards Shexian in his rescue boat.
Meanwhile, firefighters led by Dai Yu were stuck on their way to the students. Driving a fire tender in the flood was more than difficult. Every couple of hundred meters, the firefighters waded into the water to make sure the truck could pass it. At 7am, they were trapped in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but wait for the water to subside.
When they finally got back to Shexian, the only vehicle of any use was a boat which meant many trips shuttling back and forth to rescue all the students.
“The students sat in the boat while my team was in the water pushing. Huge tree trunks and cars were floating everywhere. Many of the students were crying over the tests.”
That night, temporary bridges were built across the town and 40 rescue squads were on stand-by. The rain did not return and gaokao was rearranged for the next day, using backup exam papers.
Dai went to one of the venues around 6am to wish the students well. The water was gone, but the street was little more than a muddy track. The students also arrived early, many waved at him.
“I heard many students broke down yesterday,” Song said. “They say it was going into battle. The trumpets had been sounded when it was suddenly all called off.”
Song’s daughter remained confident. “My teacher said maybe the backup test paper will be easier,” she joked before entering the test site.
The sun beat down on Shexian that day. Parents waiting outside fanned themselves to keep cool down, but all the conversation was about the previous day’s flood.
“Let the water wash away all our worries,” said someone. The nervous parents muttered in agreement as they watched the mud dry to dust.
(The names of the interviewees have been altered to protect privacy.)
