"I shouldn't have pulled the plug." So lamented many high school graduates, the so-called "young intellectuals", upon hearing the news that the national college entrance examination would resume after more than a decade's suspension.

The year was 1977.

Nine years earlier, in 1968, those teenagers whose education had been abruptly disrupted when the "cultural revolution" broke out were settling down in rural areas or on State farms to "receive reeducation". Many of them tried to continue their academic pursuits, mostly on their own, while working on the land. Unfortunately, except for a few, most gave up as nothing changed year in, year out.