Society

Students on spending spree after Gaokao

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-10 20:29

BEIJING - College candidates are on a spending spree to celebrate their survival of the National College Entrance Examination, which concluded on Thursday.

The world's largest standardized college entrance examination, more than 9 million students faced the make-or-break test from June 7 to 9.

Now that it is over, students spare no efforts to relax. Cross-country travel, international travel, minor plastic surgery, and graduation dinners are planned. Businesses, on the other hand, are ready to take advantage of the trend and make a profit.

The tourism industry is among the top beneficiaries as the number of student travelers usually peaks in the first two months of the post-exam period.

To cater to needs of college candidates and their parents, many travel agencies are offering special travel programs. For instance, Beijing Youth Travel Service offers cheap family tour packages for suburban tours. In some scenic spots, ticket discounts are offered to students with proof of admission for the exam.

Tours to prestigious foreign universities attract many students. To facilitate students who want to travel abroad, some police stations in the capital city have opened special counters to handle their passport formalities.

Prospective college students are also keen in pursuit of beauty. Minor plastic surgeries are popular among girls and boys as they believe good appearance will be helpful to their university life and future job prospects.

"They want to enter college beautiful, and summer vacation is long enough for recovery from minor surgeries," said a consultant surnamed Ren, from Yaliang Hospital.

She said many students have consulted about partial plastic surgeries such as nose jobs, acne removal and eye lifts. Prices of such surgeries range from 1,800 yuan ($276.9) to 15,000 yuan.

Restaurants are also busy this time of the year. A graduation dinner is priced from several hundred yuan to 2,000 yuan at local restaurants. Various promotions, such as discounts and souvenirs, are used to entice students and their parents.

Electronic products are hot among graduates. "Computer buyers have increased recently. We now sell several laptops a day," said a salesman surnamed Wang at Dinesh Digital Square.

He said many students buy digital products such as computers, mobile phones and digital cameras to prepare for university life.