Read the full article originally published by The Wall Street Journal on their website; an excerpt from the article written by authors of the their forthcoming book “The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China,” Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li, is included below.

"For two days every year in June, China comes to a standstill. Unusual sights abound: Men put on qipaos, traditional dresses typically worn by women, as a symbol of luck; police stand on street corners, silencing drivers to ensure minimal disturbance; temples overflow with relatives sending out final prayers; crowds, unusually quiet, gather in hushed vigils outside thousands of schools. State media zero in on an event affecting 10 million students and their many family members: the gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam.

The highest scorers on the gaokao in each province are practically guaranteed a spot at an elite university and the life-changing power that comes with it. In some places, top scorers are treated like celebrities and interviewed on local television. In others, legal measures now shield the identity of the highest scorers to protect them from overexposure.

The gaokao is the culmination of hundreds of tests that Chinese students take during the 12 years of elementary to high school. Exams are a fact of life in many places around the world. But no country is as thoroughly governed by test scores as China, where they both reflect and reinforce the structure of society as a tournament—a zero-sum competition where, if your neighbor wins, in all likelihood you lose."

Ruixue Jia is a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, and Hongbin Li is co-director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions. This essay is adapted from their new book, “The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China,” written with Claire Cousineau, which will be published Sept. 9 by Harvard University Press.