The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.
All websites: Regarding the announcement of the exam results for the English subject Zhejiang gaokao, you may only report authoritative information issued by the Zhejiang provincial government. Strictly regulate sources, do not hype irrational claims, do not aggregate similar past issues, do not use this as an opportunity to question new gaokao reforms, and strictly control for harmful information in comments posts and interactive sections. (December 8, 2018) [Chinese]
At the South China Morning Post, Phoebe Zhang reports that two top education officials have lost their jobs after an investigation in Zhejiang province revealed that many students’ scores on the English language college entrance exam, or gaokao, had been distorted:
Guo Huawei, Communist Party chief of the Zhejiang Education Department, was asked to resign. The party chief of the exam authority Wang Yuqing and its disciplinary head Chen Yujun were both sacked and put under investigation, while Sun Heng, head of the exam department, was summoned to an admonitory interview with the provincial watchdog.
The exam scandal began on November 24, when results for the English gaokao exam were released, prompting many students and parents to question the grading method.
Some students, who had fared well on objective test questions, such as multiple choice, lost more points on essay questions, leading to a wide-ranging public outcry and suggestions of under-the-table manipulation of grades.
[…] In China, the fate of Chinese high school students is largely decided by the gaokao. The scores on a series of tests, including Chinese, maths and English, determine which universities will accept them. […] [Source]
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. Some instructions are issued by local authorities or to specific sectors, and may not apply universally across China. The date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source. See CDT’s collection of Directives from the Ministry of Truth
