Picture story: 19-year-old art candidate Xu Xiaoxiao’s path to the art exam

Xu Xiaoxiao (middle) and his companion Zhou Xin (right) inquire about the enrollment status of a school at a college consultation point outside the province (photo taken on February 15). "The art exam is not easy." Xu Xiaoxiao, a 19-year-old art exam candidate, summed up her art exam life in four short words.

Xu Xiaoxiao is a senior high school student at Xinzhong Middle School in Si County, Anhui Province. Just after the Spring Festival in 2011, she and several classmates came to Hefei to take the professional examination for art majors in colleges outside Anhui Province. In order to save money, Xu Xiaoxiao and his companions rented a bed in a private house in a community near the examination center of Anhui Vocational College of Art. Compared with the hundreds of yuan per night hotel accommodation prices, she and her companions only need to spend 20 yuan each to stay safely for one night. For art candidates like Xu Xiaoxiao, the high cost is a difficulty that families taking the art exams have to face. Xu Xiaoxiao said that the art exam is a costly exam. In addition to the usual high training fees, the registration fees and room and board expenses for taking the art exam in various places are a big pressure for her not-so-rich family.

In the five days before Xu Xiaoxiao came to Hefei for the art exam, he signed up for professional exams from three colleges, including two schools’ professional exams for broadcasting and hosting and one school’s professional exam for art. "My English (forum) is pretty good and I want to take the bilingual broadcasting major." Xu Xiaoxiao is very confident in her English proficiency, but she seems a little disappointed when it comes to other cultural courses. She has been traveling around for art exams, so she has delayed many cultural courses. "I will stay until the end of the month and take exams from a few more schools. After all, the more exams you take, the more opportunities you will have." Xu Xiaoxiao said that she originally studied art, and because she loves broadcasting, she also signed up for broadcasting this time. Professional exams.

In Hefei in February, the weather was still cold. Xu Xiaoxiao, who was wearing thin clothes, shuttled between the registration point, examination room and residence every day. "Although the art exam is very tiring, you have to persevere since you are here. There is no retreat for your ideal." Xu Xiaoxiao said that the mutual support and care of several classmates who took the art exam together made her life in the art exam not lonely. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Junxi

Reposted to Tencent Weibo

Xu Xiaoxiao is paying the registration fee. To take an exam at a school, you need to pay an registration fee of about 200 yuan (photo taken on February 15). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Junxi