Welcome to Sisyphus Highway: In Depth.

The National College Entrance Examination, or gaokao, is one of China’s largest annual public events and perhaps one of the greatest events in each person’s life. Many regard it as the most effective institutional path by which an ordinary student can move upward in society. Fairness in the gaokao and in education is an inviolable principle in public opinion.

During the 2025 gaokao season, several stories involving education, resources, and privilege entered public view in quick succession: Jiang Yurong’s Harvard speech caused controversy; Peking Union Medical College’s “4+4” program exposed admissions and training-management problems; actress Narana Erdyneeva was found to have falsified gaokao registration documents; and actress Huang Yangtiantian’s family background came under scrutiny.

Each controversy had its own logic, but all related to this chapter’s subject: elite narratives and social stratification. Beginning with these four stories, we ask what constitutes an elite and how education, wealth, power, and cultural capital influence a person’s social position.

 

- Four gaokao-season controversies: why did all of them touch the nerve of educational fairness?

- Jiang Yurong’s Harvard speech: why do we no longer believe elites’ expressions of idealism?

- Peking Union Medical College’s “4+4” program: how do special training tracks affect public trust?

- Narana Erdyneeva and Huang Yangtiantian: how are personal achievement and family resources scrutinized together?

- From Pareto to Mills: who can be called an “elite”?

- Bourdieu and Distinction: taste, education, and cultural capital

- When did we first become aware of our own class position?

 

- C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (book)

- Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction (book)

 

- Hosts: J and Kang

- Production: Arry and Lizi

- Music

· Riots - A.R. Rahman

· French Fries With Pepper

· Johnson - Kruder & Dorfmeister

· Jaguar in the Mist - Chris Haugen