- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Sweden says China blocked prosecutors' probe of ship linked to cut cables
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate fears
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Beyond Work Unveils Next-Generation Memory-Augmented AI Agent (MATRIX) for Enterprise Document Intelligence
- Sweet smell of success for niche perfumes
- 'Finally, we made it!': Ho Chi Minh City celebrates first metro
- Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province
- Stellantis backtracks on plan to lay off 1,100 at US Jeep plant
- Banned Russian skater Valieva stars at Moscow ice gala
- Biden signs funding bill to avert government shutdown
- Sorrow and fury in German town after Christmas market attack
- France's most powerful nuclear reactor finally comes on stream
- Sierra Leone student tackles toxic air pollution
- Amazon says US strike caused 'no disruptions'
- Qualcomm scores key win in licensing dispute with Arm
- Scientists observe 'negative time' in quantum experiments
- US approves first drug treatment for sleep apnea
- Amazon expects no disruptions as US strike goes into 2nd day
- US confirms billions in chips funds to Samsung, Texas Instruments
- Wall Street rebounds despite US inflation ticking higher
56-year-old 'gaokao holdout' fails to make the cut for 27th time
After failing to achieve a high enough score on China's dreaded college entry exam for the 27th time, 56-year-old Liang Shi is beginning to wonder if he will ever make it to his dream university.
Liang, a self-made millionaire, has taken the gruelling "gaokao" exam dozens of times over the past four decades, hoping to earn a place at top-tier Sichuan University and fulfil his ambition of becoming "an intellectual".
By most measures, Liang has had a successful life -- he worked his way up from a menial job on a factory floor to establishing his own construction materials business, making millions of yuan in the process, but his university dreams have so far eluded him.
In his quest for a prestigious higher education, he has put in 12-hour study days, abstained from drinking and playing mahjong, and endured the media mocking him as the "gaokao holdout", as well as online suspicion that it is all a publicity stunt.
But despite months of living like "an ascetic monk", this year Liang was 34 points short of the provincial baseline for getting into any university.
"Before I got the result, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to get a high enough score to enter an elite university," he told AFP.
"But I didn't expect to not make it into the ordinary ones."
Shortly before 10 pmFriday -- along with hundreds of thousands of high-school students across southwestern Sichuan province -- the grey-haired businessman carefully typed in his exam identification information and nervously waited to find out how he'd done.
Several local media reporters livestreaming the scene were also avidly checking for updates -- and from their disappointed expressions, Liang knew before he even saw the screen himself that the result was not ideal.
"It's all done for again this year," he said to himself. "It's very regrettable."
In the past, Liang's repeated misses failed to deter him.
Every time he fell short, he vowed to try again the next year.
Now, for the first time in decades, he is wondering if his hard work will ever lead to anything.
"If I truly can't see much hope for improvement, there is no point doing it again. I really did work very hard every day," he said tiredly.
"It's hard to say whether I will keep on preparing for the gaokao next year," he admitted.
But a life without gaokao preparation is almost unthinkable to him.
"It's a hard decision to make. I am not willing to give up either," he mused.
"(If I were to) stop taking the gaokao, every cup of tea I drank for the rest of my life would taste of regret."
Y.Jeong--CPN