Elite high school a gaokao sweatshop

Photos from Hengshui High School's website show students carry text books when doing morning exercises on the sport ground to take a glance while lining up. The school has roused controversy for its strict rules and exam-oriented practices which have successfully sent thousands of students to the country's top universities.

Chen Siyu was strolling out of the school eatery one spring afternoon in 2011 when she saw an unusual motto on the side of a classroom building. It read, "Run. Don't walk."

She ran all the way to the classroom and concentrated on her studies.

That summer, Chen was admitted to Beihang University, one of the best polytechnic universities in China.

The motto that inspired her is one of many similar mantras espoused at Hengshui High School in north China's Hebei Province, which is as notorious for its exacting approach to exam cramming as it is for students excelling.

Last year, 104 of its graduates were admitted to Peking and Tsinghua universities, the country's top two. In the past two decades, at least 80 percent of Hengshui's graduates have secured seats at noted universities in the big cities.

In a few weeks, they will be joined by the cream of this year's crop. More than 4,000 Hengshui students took the national college admission test, or gaokao, over the weekend, and they will no doubt rise to near the top.

Sweatshop?

The success, however, has not come without controversy. The school is criticized for its rigid rules and heavy workload for teens. Amid concern that China's education system focuses too much on exams, Hengshui High School is seen as the worst "gaokao sweatshop."

Here are some of the best-known slogans from the school, located in Hengshui, a rather underdeveloped city with 4.4 million that lies 270 kilometers south of Beijing.

"If you haven't died from hard work, just work harder."

"Life is not a rehearsal, because you won't have the chance to live it all over again."

"Always ask yourself: What am I doing here? What kind of person do I want to be? And how much have I progressed today toward my goal?"

The school has more than 10,000 students, all of whom are boarders and follow a strict timetable.

As soon as they get up at 5:30am, the students gather at the sports ground for 15 minutes of exercise. They all take textbooks with them in order to steal a glance while lining up, and then go directly to the classroom for a 30-minute morning recital from 6 to 6:30am.

The students have 13 classes a day — five in the morning, five in the afternoon and three in the evening. They have 40 minutes for lunch, an hour for a nap, 30 minutes for supper and 20 minutes to watch TV news.

But all lights are out at 10:10pm to ensure that students can sleep for seven hours.

On Saturdays, all the students have to take mock tests. Only Sunday afternoons are a time to relax and meet family members. Parents often travel to Hengshui on Sunday for a brief meeting with their children.