The Highest Exam

If you want to understand Chinese society, education is perhaps the best place to start. And Chinese education is all about the gaokao, the college entrance examination. With The Highest Exam, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li have done a remarkable job of combining their personal stories with eye-opening statistics and analysis of the larger system. This is an important, thoughtful book. – Peter Hessler, author of River Town and Oracle BonesChina is unique in many ways, but we don’t know which aspect is the most significant. This book proposes that its examination culture is the key, opening up a whole new way of thinking about the economic differences in the world. Profound and fascinating in equal measure. – James A. Robinson, Nobel laureate and coauthor of Why Nations FailChina’s nationwide college entrance exam, which looms large over the life of students and families, is rarely discussed in depth outside the country. Now, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li examine the roots and implications of this exceptional Chinese institution, expanding the discussion in unexpected ways and demonstrating its global significance. Drawing on their own life stories, they offer an account that is moving, personal, and often even funny. Highly recommended. – Barry Naughton, author of The Chinese EconomyIn this fascinating book, Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li combine their professional expertise as economists with their personal experiences of studying in China and parenting in the US to examine the Chinese education system, which they characterize as a centralized hierarchical tournament. They show how it both shapes and reflects Chinese society—and increasingly influences the education experience in America as well. – Alvin Roth, Nobel laureate and author of Who Gets What—and WhyRuixue Jia and Hongbin Li have written a remarkable book that combines history, data, and personal experience to paint a unique, deep, and rich portrait of the Chinese education system and its culture. They show us not only its implications for China, but how it sheds light on education beyond China and its role in society. – Matthew O. Jackson, author of The Human Network

Ruixue Jia is Professor of Economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California San Diego, where she codirects the China Data Lab.

Hongbin Li is Codirector of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions as well as Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He was previously Professor of Economics at Tsinghua University in Beijing and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Claire Cousineau is a writer and researcher at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions.