Students Set Record as Gaokao Begins

Parents film their children entering the test center at Guangzhou No 16 Middle School on the first day of the national college entrance exam, orgaokao, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Tuesday. XIA SHIYAN/FOR CHINA DAILY

With parents, teachers and friends lining up outside test centers to cheer them on, a record 10.71 million students around China began taking the all-important national college entrance exam, or gaokao, amid the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, after it had been delayed by a month due to the outbreak.

A test taker has his temperature measured before entering a testing site in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily