Writing a well-expressed essay is not easy, especially when it has the power to change your life. And this year, as in every other year, after the National College Entrance Examinations, people have been discussing the essay topics in the Chinese examination, which challenges both the candidates’* writing skills and their understanding of life and society.

“The topic in Fujian Province this year was ‘Seasons.’ It was rather vague*. We could have written in any form: an expository*, or informative, or narrative* type essay, or even a poem,” said Zheng Yaghua, one of 9.5 million Chinese students who sat the exam, the largest of its kind in the world. “In my essay I compared human life to the four seasons,” he revealed*.

Essay topics in China’s college entrance exams mirror the changes that have taken place in Chinese society over the past 30 years since the exams were reintroduced in 1977.

Huang Shangjin, who was only 20 in 1977, remembered the essay topic that year was “The Most Exciting Moment.”

He wrote what he saw and felt after hearing the news about the end of the “Cultural Revolution.”

In 1977, the topic for Beijing students was “My Past Year of Combat.”

“It wasn’t a test of Chinese literature but a politicaly inspired exam,” Huang said.

In 1985, candidate Ma Lin’e was challenged to “write a letter to a newspaper to call for a clean-up of environmental pollution.”

Ma said pollution was already a problem in some areas in the 1980s due to rapid industrial development.

“The essay topic reflected the situation of the period when the development of industry started to affect the environment, and people had got alarmed*,” Ma said.

As the end of the century drew near, China shifted its attention to creativity*.

In 1999, the topic was “Transplanting* Memories,” which caused a nationwide discussion because the science magazine Science Fiction World had solicited* essays for the magazine on the same topic before the examination.

“It was not a coincidence* but a reflection of the age,” said Yao Haijun, chief-editor of the magazine.

Yao said rapid economic development had drawn attention to science and technical know-how. Science fiction* had become very popular, especially among young people, at that time.

The 2003 exam asked students to write an essay discussing how people’s relationships determine their views, recalled Zhang Ke, a graduate of Xi’an International Studies University.

“It gave us much more room to express our ideas,” said Zhang.

To summarize, NCEE essay topics were political in the 1970s, more exploratory* in the 1980s, and more imaginative in the 1990s, said Lin Yuanda, a middle school teacher from Fujian Province.

(SD-Agencies)