What stood out to me is how the system actually uses feedback to improve:
Salary bonuses are tied to results, especially at the top. For example, the ¥300k ($40k) bonus for the teacher who had 150% more students admitted to top universities. American teachers are instead assessed on student improvement, but the top 10% of students already saturate the preliminary exam (and hence, there is no feedback mechanism or bonus there).
Low-performing teachers get fired. Misbehaving students get expelled. In American public schools, this almost never happens, and as a result only the passionate teachers do a decent job of teaching, and most students do not pay much attention in class (sometimes because they can't due to other students' misbehavior).
However, there are some things I think are problematic with this school model:
They have a similar subject-leader model among the teachers as American schools, though much tighter: adjustments are made quicker and more consistent based on homework and test scores, but there is also much less freedom in lesson planning. This is good, because it means even mediocre teachers will have good lessons, but really bad because it kills innovation. It's the typical exploration/exploitation tradeoff. If their school were willing to share what works with other schools (they're not; it's a "secret manual") this could be solved, otherwise they should choose 10–20% of their classes per subject to undergo an alternative curriculum for the "unit" (period of a few weeks), and see if it works better.
The hours are too long. I was an American "study god", and I could only intensely focus on competition math for a few hours a day, when I was already in the mood for it. Six-hour exams (like the Putnam) were exhausting. I do not think humans can think hard for more than a few hours a day. They can do light thinking for most of the day (e.g. repetitive problem sets, reading and writing) but very little is gained here. You might hope that with 16-hour days, a few of them involve intense thinking, but because the curriculum is the same for all the students, and different students will use up their energy on different subjects, the result is none of the hours are used in the most productive manner.
The video (in Chinese): [Before-Bed News 966] Attending High School in Hengshui? Bring Extra Enemas
The original transcript in Chinese: 睡前消息966 文字转录 衡水模式中学访谈
The following is the transcript of this video.
[Host (Dugong)]
Hello everyone, and welcome to Before-Bed News: A Story from Our Own Audience. This is the fourth time I've invited a viewer into the studio, and it's also the first time I've invited a fellow from the "Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers."[1] Today's guest graduated from Huanggang Normal University[2] and now works at a high school in Hengshui. He has observed two of China's major test-oriented education models up close, and many of his relatives are also high school teachers. Today, he will bring us frontline observations on secondary education.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do you work at the famous Hengshui High School that everyone knows?
[Guest Teacher]
No. But in reality, most schools in the entire Hengshui region follow the so-called "Hengshui Model."[3]
[Host (Dugong)]
So, you're saying that if you attend high school in Hengshui city, there's a high probability that you're already within this Hengshui system.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
What are some common public descriptions or imaginings of the Hengshui Model that don't match your reality? Or, after joining a typical Hengshui-model school, what were some things that you didn't expect before you came?
[Guest Teacher]
People's imagination of the Hengshui Model is like a black box; they don't know how it operates inside. They just feel that the students here get such high scores, so you must be exploiting them, and it must be terrifying inside. Before I came, I also imagined a hellish kind of scene, but after arriving, I found it was okay. After we've built a very complete system, we can spot the signs of any out-of-line behavior within the system and stop it immediately. If a student has psychological problems or commits a disciplinary infraction, they are corrected right away. But it's not the kind of forced correction we might conventionally think of, like corporal punishment, which absolutely does not happen in Hengshui.
[Host (Dugong)]
In the high school where you work, what is the daily schedule generally like?
[Guest Teacher]
It's what they call "burden reduction."[4] Currently, we wake up at 6:30 AM and go to sleep around 10:30 PM. There's also a 40-minute nap time at noon. So, overall, rest is guaranteed.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do the students go back and fall right asleep, or do they try to study more in their dorms?
[Guest Teacher]
Studying is absolutely not allowed; all the lights are turned off at that time. Of course, our job is to ensure they are sleeping.
[Host (Dugong)]
So what's the average daily study time?
[Guest Teacher]
In the morning, there are 5 classes plus 1 morning reading session, so that's five 45-minute periods plus one 30-minute period. The afternoon is also five 45-minute periods, plus three 45-minute periods in the evening.
[Host (Dugong)]
Is it like this 7 days a week?
[Guest Teacher]
No. The schedule on Saturdays and Sundays is relatively more relaxed. Given the situation in Hengshui, most parents are from out of town, so it's not very realistic for them to pick up their children every week. So now we have a "voluntary two-day weekend." As long as you tell the school "I want a break," your parents can come and pick you up. If they don't, you stay at school where teachers are scheduled to be on duty.
[Host (Dugong)]
What kinds of extracurricular activities are mainly scheduled on weekends?
[Guest Teacher]
Morality, intellect, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor.[5] Everything except for "intellect" is scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays, including various sports, labor skills classes, music, and art.
[Host (Dugong)]
Students should be quite happy to participate in these activities, right?
[Guest Teacher]
Most students are just looking for a place to chat. Their lives are actually very dull. They don't have any particular skills or talents. If you don't attend these classes, your only option is to sit in the classroom for self-study, and you're not allowed to talk in the classroom.
[Host (Dugong)]
This characteristic, that they feel they have no hobbies, is probably something they've carried over from middle school?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
Is it also related to their social class or their family's educational style?
[Guest Teacher]
It's very related. They simply want you to have good grades, get into a good university. They, especially the parents, don't have high expectations for your other qualities.
[Host (Dugong)]
What do these students usually chat about?
[Guest Teacher]
Same as when we were in school. Boys talk about games and sports; girls talk about gossip, TV shows, and movies.
[Host (Dugong)]
So you think they're still quite knowledgeable about the outside world?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Many of them have a "faster internet speed" than I do.[6] When a student takes leave or goes out for some reason, they engage in high-intensity surfing,[7] and upon returning, they immediately bring back all the latest stuff to share with the whole class. Then the topics spread. Of course, only a few people actively bring back this information, maybe two or three per class.
[Host (Dugong)]
Then I can probably understand the lifestyle of a Hengshui student. It's 13 classes plus a morning reading session every day, repeating until the weekend, and then every week someone goes out and brings back information from the outside world.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
With this constant cycle of 13 classes a day, what is their health like?
[Guest Teacher]
Right now, the physical fitness and condition of young people across China might be a bit problematic. This is especially true for myopia; among my students, about 90% are nearsighted.
[Host (Dugong)]
Does PE class force them to do high-intensity exercise?
[Guest Teacher]
PE class is basically just a warm-up. After the warm-up, various equipment is handed out—ping pong, badminton, basketball, soccer—and they can just go play on their own.
[Host (Dugong)]
But based on your earlier description, it seems most students probably use this time to chat.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. The students who actually play, from my observation, are only about one-third.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do you have morning running drills every day?
[Guest Teacher]
In theory, it's a daily activity. But now, considering the students' condition and the weather, we basically don't run if it's windy, don't run if it's raining... we don't run if it's sunny, don't run if it's rainy.
[Host (Dugong)]
Don't run if it's sunny, don't run if it's rainy?
[Guest Teacher]
Meaning we don't run if it's too sunny, and we don't run if it rains. We don't run if it's too hot, and we don't run if it's too cold. It started as three laps around a 400-meter track, but now it has been gradually simplified to sometimes one lap, sometimes two.
[Host (Dugong)]
The legendary image of Hengshui High School, or the Hengshui Model, has a very important feature: everyone running in neat, standardized formations. Has this scene gradually weakened?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. You're talking about the compact-style running, the kind where your chest is pressed against the back of the person in front. That was gradually cancelled about a year after I arrived at the school. The main reason was that many parents complained that after the morning run, many kids would have gastrointestinal discomfort, making it hard for them to focus in class all morning. The so-called "gastrointestinal issues" mainly manifest as stomach problems, because many students eat very quickly, and also constipation.
[Host (Dugong)]
Let's address two issues here, one by one. The problem of eating too fast, is it because the designated meal times are too tight?
[Guest Teacher]
If you eat according to the school's schedule and have a normal meal, there won't be a problem. The issue arises when a student doesn't go to eat during the designated mealtime; instead, they might rest in the classroom, make a phone call, or buy some snacks and skip the proper meal. This can lead to problems.
[Woman]
How much time does the school allocate for students' meals?
[Guest Teacher]
15 minutes for breakfast, 20 minutes for lunch, and 20 minutes for dinner.
[Woman]
Does that include getting from the classroom to the cafeteria and waiting in line for food?
[Guest Teacher]
There's basically no queueing for food. We have a staggered system, with each class's mealtime offset by 5 minutes.
[Host (Dugong)]
(The time) is still a bit tight. So I have to walk from the classroom to the cafeteria and back, and finish everything within 20 minutes.
[Guest Teacher]
I'm not sure about other schools. At our school, the distance is very short, about three minutes. Your daily movement path is a complete circle, so you don't need to backtrack.
[Host (Dugong)]
Regarding the constipation issue you just mentioned, a while ago I read a report in Southern Weekly saying that under the strict time management of these "super high schools," students don't have the freedom to use the toilet. Is this situation also common where you are?
[Guest Teacher]
The best-selling medicine in the school clinic is glycerin enemas.[8]
[Host (Dugong)]
What's the approximate usage volume?
[Guest Teacher]
I'm not sure about their restocking cycle, but according to the clinic staff, a new shipment is basically sold out within a day of arrival. They get at least 10 boxes each time, and some students will take a whole box at once.
[Host (Dugong)]
So it means the problem of constipation is indeed quite common.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
How would you summarize the reasons for this constipation problem? Is it stress, lack of exercise, or issues with our diet?
[Guest Teacher]
There is a strange phenomenon, though I'm not sure if it's a rule. Often, these children with constipation, from my perspective, don't seem to be in a very good mood. They tend to be more introverted. They might put a lot of pressure on themselves—from school, from parents, all sorts of academic pressure. They can't relieve it effectively. This high mental pressure then leads to gastrointestinal problems. Conversely, the kids we're "supposed" to dislike—the really naughty ones who cause trouble every day, the very lively and cheerful ones—they don't have these problems. They are very healthy.
[Host (Dugong)]
The Hengshui Model is famous for its militarized management. Generally speaking, what measures does this "militarization" include?
[Guest Teacher]
I don't really agree with that term. But I believe the most typical feature of the Hengshui Model is standardization: it does not allow anything unplanned to happen. If you cross this red line, the punishment ranges from a warning to being suspended and sent home.
[Host (Dugong)]
What do you think is the greatest effect of this model on students, or what core competency does it cultivate?
[Guest Teacher]
I think it's about providing them with an environment. At the high school stage, students are very susceptible to peer influence. We draw a circle for them, and everyone stays within it. If a school has one or two students who don't study, they might influence other students who want to study, preventing them from learning. This should be a common phenomenon in other high schools. But here, if you don't study, if you don't follow the rules, then you don't belong here. Of course, those who dare to be the "bird that sticks its head out"[9] are a minority, so once that minority is dealt with, the rest become much easier to manage.
[Host (Dugong)]
Based on the current average, over three years, how many people become these "birds that stick their heads out" and leave this exam system completely?
[Guest Teacher]
About 5%. The signs usually appear within the first 1-2 months of the school year. If they really can't adapt, they will usually leave.
[Host (Dugong)]
They just can't tolerate the rules no matter what.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. It's also a mismatch between the parents' expectations and the child's own personality.
[Host (Dugong)]
In other words, for 95% of the people, once they get past the first month, the next three years are basically just a matter of making occasional mistakes.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
For students cultivated under this model, can their ability for independent learning be maintained?
[Guest Teacher]
It has a certain impact. To put it bluntly, it's like they're being whipped to move forward.
[Host (Dugong)]
They cannot make their own study plans; their only choice is to accept the single plan set by the school.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. During a designated class, you are not allowed to study content from any other subject. If you do, it's considered a disciplinary violation.
[Host (Dugong)]
For example, even if he is ranked first in the grade, he still can't make his own study plan?
[Guest Teacher]
Not allowed. For some outstanding students, we might give them some suggestions to strengthen certain areas, but that usually has to be done during their spare time.
[Host (Dugong)]
Of the 13 classes each day, how many are for them to manage on their own?
[Guest Teacher]
Strictly speaking, there is no time they can manage themselves. The so-called self-study periods correspond to a specific teacher's subject. You can only study that teacher's subject. If the Chinese teacher is there, you can't do math or English.
[Woman]
What if I'm weak in physics and need more time?
[Guest Teacher]
Mm, that's not allowed.
[Host (Dugong)]
This is Hengshui.
[Guest Teacher]
It's not that there's absolutely no time. For example, during your holidays, you can find ways to make up for it on your own. At the school level, it's impossible to accommodate such things.
[Host (Dugong)]
Such a standardized process. Does that imply a premise that the students who come here are all at a similar level upon enrollment?
[Guest Teacher]
For students in the regular classes who enroll from the first year of high school, as long as you work hard enough in the first 2-3 months after enrollment, it's entirely possible for a student who scored in the 400s on the high school entrance exam to catch up to one who scored in the 600s or 700s. But for students repeating the year, the gap in their foundation might be much larger.
[Host (Dugong)]
Such standardized learning. But we expect many of them to get into 985/211 universities.[10] So where do the differences between these students manifest?
[Guest Teacher]
I think it's mainly related to individual ability. Another factor is their degree of adaptation to the model. Those who are extremely unsuited to it will leave the system very early. Those with some adaptability might fight against the environment while also going along with it, but their grades won't be very good. Some students who adapt very well will get very high scores. And then there are the very few we call "study gods,"[11] or geniuses; I suspect they would get excellent grades at any school. They might have been attracted to our school by its reputation or its scale.
[Host (Dugong)]
So can you elaborate on how you execute this standardized supervision and motivation?
[Guest Teacher]
It's mainly reflected in the teachers. The entire school administration's management of teachers is also meticulous. All the control measures applied to students also apply to you. You also need to do specified things at specified times. This period is for curriculum research, so all teachers do it together. This period is for teaching, so all teachers must go to class. Of the 10 class periods during the day, at least 5-6 are scheduled for you, leaving only a few periods for you to do your own thing.
[Host (Dugong)]
So when you recruit a new teacher, the first thing is to have them adapt to this standardization.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. The entire summer vacation is a training period for teachers.
[Host (Dugong)]
How long does it take for a new teacher to get up to speed with this standardized process?
[Guest Teacher]
To start teaching in a classroom, maybe about three months. To fully adapt, you need to have taught for at least a full academic year.
[Host (Dugong)]
What's the general distribution of academic qualifications among your teachers?
[Guest Teacher]
The teachers at our school are probably mostly from first-tier and second-tier universities; very few are from top-tier universities.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do teachers have any personalized parts in their lesson plans?
[Guest Teacher]
The entire subject group prepares lessons collectively. The operational procedures for teaching are decided upon by everyone and finalized by the group leader. Also, there are always common problems. If the data shows discrepancies, we will adjust the lesson plans accordingly based on that data.
[Host (Dugong)]
So this is the core of the Hengshui Model. On one hand, you require uniformity, and on the other, any adjustments are made uniformly for an entire grade or at least an entire class.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Because data reflects problems most effectively.
[Host (Dugong)]
What kind of data do you usually analyze? Can you disclose that?
[Guest Teacher]
It's actually very conventional: average scores, correct answer rates—that is, how many people answered a certain question correctly. If many of the wrong answers chose a specific option, it indicates a particular misconception about a knowledge point, and we need to correct that deviation.
[Host (Dugong)]
If a single student has a significant problem, will you try to adjust and correct it?
[Guest Teacher]
No. For instance, if you are the only one in the entire grade who got this question wrong, we might analyze the question as a whole, but the specific angle of your mistake probably won't be a focus.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do you think the teachers produced under this Hengshui Model are improved by it?
[Guest Teacher]
In terms of teaching skills, it's definitely an improvement, because you have a ready-made system guiding you forward. Normally, for a new teacher to master all the knowledge points of a single subject, three years would not be enough—you've only taught it once. But under this system, you are forced to master all the knowledge within three years. And it's very efficient. All the mistakes you're likely to make in practice have already been compiled and told to you in advance.
[Host (Dugong)]
What are the punishments if students or teachers break the rules?
[Guest Teacher]
For students, first it's a demerit, what we call "deducting points." Once you lose a certain number of points, you're sent home. There are also more serious violations, like fighting that causes injury, which leads to direct expulsion.
For teachers, it's reflected in their salary. And if there are serious violations, like the paid tutoring or accepting gifts from parents that we always emphasize now, that also leads to termination.
[Host (Dugong)]
Specifically, how many points can a student lose?
[Guest Teacher]
Different violations correspond to different point values.
[Woman]
Let's start with the minor ones. What are some things that get you a small point deduction?
[Guest Teacher]
Doing things unrelated to studying, whispering in class... drinking water in class is not allowed. Fidgeting with your pen—you can write with it, but you can't spin it. Scratching an itch... none of that is allowed.
[Woman]
None of it?
[Guest Teacher]
Correct. If the teacher doesn't see you, it's fine, of course. But once the patrol teacher comes by and sees it, it's definitely not okay.
[Host (Dugong)]
What's the consequence of losing one point? Writing a self-criticism letter or being sent home directly?
[Guest Teacher]
Nothing is required. The teacher just remembers it. If you get recorded too many times, you might be suspended and sent home.
[Woman]
How many points until you're sent home?
[Guest Teacher]
For small things like this, maybe after 5 times. Once you've completed a 正 character, you can go home.[12] Once you've been sent home, your point value is reset to zero. Being suspended isn't a common thing, but there are a few "frequent flyers" who might lose 20 points in a semester.
[Woman]
What are some of the higher-point violations?
[Guest Teacher]
For example, cheating on an exam could be worth 3 points. Fighting, skipping class... and by skipping class, I don't mean they just don't show up. We call it "forging an imperial edict"—telling the class teacher that the head teacher sent them on an errand, basically tricking both sides so they can go have fun. That's also a pretty serious issue.
[Host (Dugong)]
You just said that you might not get caught drinking water. Does that mean getting caught by a patrol teacher has one result, and getting caught by the class teacher has another?
[Guest Teacher]
Why would I give him a demerit? Giving him a demerit costs me money.
[Host (Dugong)]
Oh. So correcting him also costs you money.
[Guest Teacher]
The authority to deduct points isn't in our hands as teachers; it's with the disciplinary teachers. If a student violates a rule in Chinese class, the Chinese teacher gets points deducted, and the head teacher gets points deducted too. It affects both teachers. So we have to be on the same side as the students. For example, if I see a patrol teacher coming from that direction, I'll quickly tell the students, "They're coming, they're coming!" and all the students will immediately sit up straight.
[Woman]
Are there always patrol teachers in the hallways?
[Guest Teacher]
Not always. We're afraid of them too; we never know when they'll show up.
[Woman]
So it's random checks?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. We get checked too. If I'm not paying attention during class, or if I'm tired and sit down for a moment, that's not allowed.
[Host (Dugong)]
How many patrol teachers are there in the whole school?
[Guest Teacher]
About thirty or forty. They have quotas, but failing to meet the quota means a pay cut, while exceeding it doesn't earn them much more.
[Host (Dugong)]
What is their quota? Just deducting points?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. How many violations you have to catch each day.
[Host (Dugong)]
These thirty or forty patrol teachers, is their only job to patrol?
[Guest Teacher]
Oh, no. They handle some of the non-teaching tasks for the entire grade, like organizing answer sheets and so on.
[Host (Dugong)]
Are these teachers also recruited from normal universities?
[Guest Teacher]
No. We internally call them "junior college graduates." The skill requirements aren't very high, and their salary isn't as high as a subject teacher's.
[Host (Dugong)]
What percentage of the total teaching staff do these patrol teachers make up?
[Guest Teacher]
10%.
[Host (Dugong)]
So you have to hire 10% of your staff as non-teaching personnel just to supervise the other 90%.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
Let's say one of my students loses a point. As a subject teacher, how much money does that one point cost me?
[Guest Teacher]
It's not a specific "one point equals this much money" value. It's a quantitative comparison. For example, after a scoring cycle ends, all teachers are ranked based on a combination of regular performance and exam results. The top-ranked teachers get bonuses, and the bottom-ranked ones get penalties. The school doesn't spend an extra cent, nor does it save one.
[Host (Dugong)]
What's the maximum difference in score between an excellent teacher and a teacher with few points?
[Guest Teacher]
Quantified in terms of bonus amount, it could be a 50% difference.
[Host (Dugong)]
What is that 50% in absolute terms?
[Guest Teacher]
For the most common teachers, it would be around 1,000 yuan.
[Host (Dugong)]
That doesn't sound too harsh.
[Guest Teacher]
It's acceptable. But nobody is happy about getting so many deductions. And if you stay at the bottom for too long, you face the risk of being fired.
[Host (Dugong)]
Does anyone in your family still work as a head teacher?
[Guest Teacher]
My wife just stepped down from being a head teacher. During the time she was one, we had about one hour of lucid conversation per day.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do you think the pressure of being a head teacher is more manageable for younger people or older people?
[Guest Teacher]
It's quite interesting at our school. Almost all the head teachers are at two extremes: my age group, who graduated 3-5 years ago and are still passionate and energetic; and then those around 50, who may not have much pressure at home and don't need as much sleep, so they also consider being a head teacher.
[Host (Dugong)]
So that middle period, when you have to take care of your own children, makes it impossible to take care of other people's children.
[Guest Teacher]
There are a few such teachers; we call them "Iron Men." All head teachers are also subject teachers, so they are taking on extra work. They have to arrive at the dorms before the students wake up (6:30 AM) and can only leave after the students are asleep (10:30 PM). They're responsible for class discipline, hygiene, and students' daily life management. They also need to communicate with parents. And during the major breaks, lunchtime, and bedtime, they have to do "class checks," meaning they must be present where the students are—in the cafeteria and the dorms. A subject teacher only needs to be in the classroom. But the difference in salary is also a bit bigger.
[Host (Dugong)]
Can you disclose the absolute level of a teacher's income?
[Guest Teacher]
There are definitely schools in the Hengshui area with higher pay than ours. At our school, the take-home pay for a regular frontline teacher—the amount most people earn—is about 7,000 yuan a month. A step up, a head teacher of two classes, would be around 10,000 yuan. Higher up, like a subject group leader, or a group leader who is also a head teacher, could make 15,000-17,000 a month. Add in year-end bonuses and other things, and you can add another 1,000 yuan per month.
[Woman]
If you're teaching a senior year class, do you get a large bonus if the class does well on the college entrance exam?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. The higher-end average bonus is around 60,000-80,000 yuan. The most I've seen in recent years was about 300,000 yuan. He exceeded his target by about 150%.
[Host (Dugong)]
What is this "target"?
[Guest Teacher]
Based on the class's performance over the previous three years, the school evaluates the level this class is expected to achieve. For example, if you're expected to produce 10 students who get into top-tier universities, and you produce 25.
[Host (Dugong)]
What is this level of income considered in Hengshui?
[Guest Teacher]
It's definitely considered high income.
[Host (Dugong)]
How can the school sustain these relatively high salaries for teachers? What's the source of income? Is it government funding or tuition fees?
[Guest Teacher]
Tuition fees are the main part. Because most schools in Hengshui are private high schools, their tuition income is relatively high. Also, the tuition for students repeating the year is quite high.
[Host (Dugong)]
What is the tuition for a regular student for one academic year?
[Guest Teacher]
At our school, it's 18,000 yuan a year. For the repeater classes, the highest is over 30,000. If your entrance score is high, we will of course reduce the fee appropriately; the best students can attend for free.
[Host (Dugong)]
18,000 doesn't sound too outrageous. If you add about 1,000 yuan a month for living expenses, supporting a student for a year costs about 30,000 yuan. Is that a heavy burden for the students' families?
[Guest Teacher]
For local students, it might be relatively high. Because Hengshui as a whole is still a relatively underdeveloped area. For students from other cities, it's a bit better, although they have other costs, like renting an apartment.
[Host (Dugong)]
Since the students are already boarding, only going home for two days a month, they still need to rent an apartment?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. You might not understand the "jiwa" mentality of parents.[13] They don't want their child to waste a single minute. Even if the commute is an hour, they will find a way to shorten it to 10 minutes so their child can get home and rest a little more.
[Host (Dugong)]
Renting an apartment, at least, would create a clear demand for school district housing.
[Guest Teacher]
It does. Because Hengshui is a small city, there isn't a very clear distribution of school districts, including in the counties below it. The entire rental market probably depends heavily on this student population.
[Host (Dugong)]
The tuition for repeaters is high, and you can recruit from the entire province. The school probably places a lot of importance on repeaters.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Currently, the entire Hengshui region highly values the recruitment of repeater students; the schools are almost at war over it. I do this work too. I go to other prefecture-level cities to do all sorts of groundwork, starting from the most basic things: handing out flyers and small ads, getting into arguments... on the day after the college entrance exam, I go ask parents if they want their child to repeat the year.
[Host (Dugong)]
Hahaha.
[Guest Teacher]
I do that kind of work.
[Host (Dugong)]
Is the management of the repeater classes different from the regular classes?
[Guest Teacher]
It's slightly more relaxed than the regular classes, especially compared to the senior year of regular classes. Because most of these students haven't gone through the first two years of training in this system. In September, they will strictly follow the rules and start the school year with the regular classes.
[Host (Dugong)]
By June of the next year, they really only have 9 months. You still need to spend the first two months getting them integrated into the system no matter what.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. If you don't integrate, I can't teach you knowledge while you are in a very free and undisciplined state. If that were the case, there would be no point in you coming here.
[Host (Dugong)]
What are some things that are definitely present in Hengshui-system schools but not in other schools?
[Guest Teacher]
The schools here in Hengshui, I can't say all, but at least 80% of them create their own exam questions. All the questions on Hengshui exams are either from past official exams or are created by our own teachers. We don't order any supplementary materials besides the textbooks. All subject teachers are responsible for creating questions, which are then reviewed and approved by the group leader.
[Host (Dugong)]
Are the textbooks actually useful?
[Guest Teacher]
Of course, they are. The textbooks are combined with the exam syllabus. Key exam points are extracted from the textbook for focused analysis. Some less important content, or things not on the syllabus, might be skipped entirely.
[Host (Dugong)]
While the school is producing materials written by these teachers, how do you also achieve the standardization you mentioned earlier? How do you use a standardized method to get teachers to create standardized questions?
[Guest Teacher]
Through many years of exploration, a complete process for creating exam questions has been formed. The types of questions needed, the assessment standards for students—it's all in what we call the "Teaching Operations Manual." All new teachers must read this book first.
[Host (Dugong)]
Is this manual made public?
[Guest Teacher]
No. This is the school's bread and butter.
[Host (Dugong)]
A secret manual.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
So, conversely, if someone wants to replicate the Hengshui Model, they would have to poach a group of teachers to bring these standards with them.
[Guest Teacher]
That's not unheard of. There's a lot of teacher turnover here. But so far, I haven't heard of any other school making such a big name for itself. This model is actually quite difficult to replicate elsewhere. It's not something that one or two people can rebuild from scratch. It's very difficult.
[Host (Dugong)]
The students who come to Hengshui from other places—that's the so-called "cream-skimming."[14] The state hasn't been very supportive of this practice in recent years. How do you recruit students now? For example, if a student from Chengde wants to come to Hengshui, what's the process?
[Guest Teacher]
Right now, the only way that's institutionally feasible is through household and student registration transfer. You need to register your household here and transfer your student status here.
[Host (Dugong)]
In any case, I would need to own a property in Hengshui city proper.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
What are housing prices in Hengshui now?
[Guest Teacher]
Around 10,000-plus yuan per square meter, I think. 12,000, 13,000, something like that.
[Host (Dugong)]
There's probably a three or four thousand yuan premium in there brought by the school system.
[Guest Teacher]
Probably. Because honestly, Hengshui has a small population. The local population alone probably can't support such high housing prices.
[Host (Dugong)]
What's the current ratio of local to non-local students?
[Guest Teacher]
Based on my own class, it's maybe 8:2 at most. The proportion of local students is already very high.
[Host (Dugong)]
So the Hengshui Model primarily affects Hengshui locals.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Of course, I can't specifically investigate whether their household registration was transferred from elsewhere, but at least students with local household registration are the vast majority.
[Host (Dugong)]
The policy to crack down on "cream-skimming" has really only been in effect for the last few years. After stopping it, has there been a noticeable impact on local academic results?
[Guest Teacher]
The main impact is on the upper-middle students, the 20% to 40% cohort. That group has noticeably shrunk. But it hasn't had much impact on the very top students.
[Host (Dugong)]
The truly excellent students might not deign to come to Hengshui just for this process, so whether you cream-skim or not, it doesn't significantly increase the number of top students.
[Guest Teacher]
Right. We can only say that your potential has an upper limit. Those who can truly reach that limit probably don't need to go through their high school studies in an assembly-line factory like this. We can only guarantee that we'll help you get as close to your limit as possible, but we can't raise your limit.
[Host (Dugong)]
There are fewer restrictions on the repeater side, right? The proportion of non-local students is probably higher among repeaters?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Most repeaters are from out of town, maybe over 70%.
[Host (Dugong)]
But look, we have some data here. Last year, Tsinghua and Peking University admitted 330 students from Hebei. Of those, 145 were from Hengshui High School, which is 44%. I imagine this year's numbers are similar. Are these students the result of cream-skimming, or how did they get concentrated in Hengshui High School?
[Guest Teacher]
There's definitely a cream-skimming factor. Hengshui High School itself gets certain institutional advantages, so the resistance to cream-skimming is smaller for them.
[Host (Dugong)]
In what ways does Hengshui High School execute the model more strictly or scientifically than you do?
[Guest Teacher]
Institutionally, everyone is pretty much the same. I think their main advantage is in question creation, including the construction of their entire knowledge system for test-taking. This is a truly profound science. Many teachers can teach for a lifetime and never figure this part out. Of course, for them (the teachers at Hengshui High School), their years of successful experience lead them to get better and better, and this gap will continue to widen. Basically, that one school accounts for over 80% of the entire Hengshui region's admissions to Tsinghua and Peking University.
[Host (Dugong)]
Based on our discussion, if you had to use one term to describe the Hengshui Model, what would it be?
[Guest Teacher]
Assembly line. The system feels very standardized, shaping every person into the version of a student that exam-oriented education desires most.
[Host (Dugong)]
You also have a very unique identity: you graduated from Huanggang Normal University and then went to teach at a Hengshui-related high school. When you were studying at Huanggang, the proportion of local classmates must have been quite high?
[Guest Teacher]
Yes, there were many.
[Host (Dugong)]
So, indirectly, you also experienced the educational atmosphere of Huanggang.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes.
[Host (Dugong)]
How would you differentiate between what is called the "Huanggang Model" and the "Hengshui Model"?
[Guest Teacher]
When I was in college, my classmates described the Huanggang Model as the so-called "sea of questions" tactic. The Hengshui Model also has a large volume of questions, but we make adjustments based on performance, then teach new knowledge, then do more questions. It's a cycle like that.
[Host (Dugong)]
So they believe in brute force, while you at least have some technique—assembly-line technique is still technique.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. And from what I know, Huanggang has recently been strengthening moral education, what we'd call "happy education." Of course, we do that too, but I think they might have gone a bit too far and made the students' minds wander.
[Host (Dugong)]
A bit far from the goal of exam-oriented education.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Wanting to have your cake and eat it too.
[Host (Dugong)]
On average, under the Hengshui Model, at a school like yours, what's the score increase you can promise parents, or that you estimate afterward, for students who attend versus those who don't?
[Guest Teacher]
There's no parallel universe, so I can't say for sure what would happen if a child came or didn't. The main thing is to determine your adaptability to the model. If you can adapt, based on the examples from the repeater side, you can see at least a 30% improvement.
[Host (Dugong)]
So that's from a junior college level to at least above the second-tier university line.
[Guest Teacher]
There are very, very many students who go from junior college level to second-tier university level. That's even the main group among the repeaters.
[Host (Dugong)]
Do you think it's appropriate to promote the Hengshui Model nationwide?
[Guest Teacher]
Its existence itself isn't particularly reasonable. It can only be called a problem-solving approach, but if everyone uses this approach, it's the same as having none.
[Host (Dugong)]
These parents from other cities who send their children to Hengshui, or the local parents who, as you said, constantly pressure the school—is there a common profile for them?
[Guest Teacher]
From my observation, they are mainly what we would call the middle class. In terms of family income, most are in the upper-middle tier in Hengshui or Hebei province. Many are civil servants or work in state-owned enterprises. They have such high hopes for their children because they are the ones who have achieved a kind of class mobility. They rose from a relatively poor state to the middle class, so they are terrified that their children will fall back into poverty, or even just maintain their current class level, which is somewhat unacceptable to them. Their evaluation of the school is mostly negative. Most of the negativity is about you not being good enough to my child. "My child is weak in this subject, why don't you find a teacher to tutor him?" "My child doesn't like the food at school, why don't you cook a separate meal for him?"
[Host (Dugong)]
On one hand, they come for Hengshui's standardized model, but on the other hand, they still hope their own child can receive services that go beyond standardization.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Given their circumstances, they probably can't truly customize a complete high school study plan for their child, so they hope to get some personalized content for their child on top of the system. In the second episode, that younger brother said it's now a two-on-two situation: teachers and students, parents and the school. Actually, I feel the pressure now is one-on-three. The parents are unilaterally pressuring the other three parties. They transfer their own parenting anxiety to all school-related aspects. You mentioned "mandatory two-day weekends" on your show before. All the schools in Hengshui responded immediately. The week the document came down, we were forced to send all the students home. What followed immediately was a large group of parents showing up at the school gates and the Education Bureau to complain. They demanded a return to the original once-a-month break. They said it would affect academic performance, that it was inconvenient for them to pick up their kids. Their anxiety is really, really severe. It feels like, "I sent my child here, you must give me back a perfect child who gets into a 985, 211, or even Tsinghua or Peking University." They won't allow anything to happen that could affect their child's grades, not even school-wide measures that apply to everyone.
[Host (Dugong)]
All these standardized measures at your school—some are for academics, and others are to cope with parental anxiety, so you have to put everyone through absolutely standardized production.
[Guest Teacher]
Yes. Everything students are allowed to do at school is on a whitelist. Only a few things are permitted. Everything outside of that is not allowed. Most of the forbidden things are not because we don't allow them, but because after students did them, parents complained, and we were forced to ban them.
[Host (Dugong)]
Can you give an example from this blacklist?
[Guest Teacher]
Running when going to the cafeteria. Even a light jog is not allowed. Your feet cannot leave the ground simultaneously, otherwise it's a disciplinary violation. Because situations like that led to falls and injuries, and parents would put the pressure on the school.
[Host (Dugong)]
We mentioned earlier that Hengshui, including its counties, has a school district economy that far exceeds its local real economy. Speaking of buying property, from my perspective—because I know Wuqing in Tianjin is also blatantly selling school admissions—if you buy a house in Wuqing, you can register your child's student status there and enjoy Tianjin's privileges in the college entrance exam. Why would some parents rather come to Hengshui than buy a house in Tianjin's Wuqing or Ji County?
[Guest Teacher]
Essentially, I think it's about the reliability of the Hengshui education model. If you go to Tianjin, your admission rate will certainly improve, but your child's learning state over the three years becomes uncontrollable. You can't guarantee their grades will improve there. If they were originally a 500-point student and they score 300 points there, they definitely won't get into any university. But if they come here (to Hengshui), I can probably guarantee their 500 points will become 600.
[Host (Dugong)]
I understand. So this controllable, predictable growth is the most important thing. That's why they choose Hengshui over Tianjin.
[Guest Teacher]
And now, Tianjin's advantage is gradually being eroded.
[Host (Dugong)]
Its admission rate is still very high.
[Guest Teacher]
The admission rate is high, but because so many people are taking this path now, the competition is actually not small. Your strengths and weaknesses are both amplified. If you are a good student, you will have a greater advantage there. But if you are an average student, your advantage will be squeezed out by the more outstanding ones.
[Host (Dugong)]
You've put down roots in a Hengshui-model high school, you're married. In a dozen years or so, your child will also face a choice. If the college entrance exam model is still similar to now, would you buy a house in Wuqing or Ji County (in Tianjin), or would you have your own child join the Hengshui model?
[Guest Teacher]
I would definitely prefer to keep him by my side. I am a screw within this system myself. If he encounters any uncontrollable risks or has trouble adapting within this system, I can correct it in time. Even if he has real problems in a certain subject, I can customize some personalized services for him. I think this is my advantage. There's no need for me to give up my own advantage for a not-so-large possibility.
[Host (Dugong)]
Let's talk about something other than the Hengshui model. When did you first learn about the show Before-Bed News?
[Guest Teacher]
I think it was around the time you were talking about Yiling Pharmaceutical, during the pandemic.
[Host (Dugong)]
After that, which episode left the deepest impression on you?
[Guest Teacher]
The one about banning tutoring centers. It touched on a topic that was very relevant to me.
[Host (Dugong)]
From your position inside the education system, having observed me talk so much about education, do you think any of my takes were way off the mark?
[Guest Teacher]
My situation is considered quite extreme even within the industry. I don't think you were off the mark; in fact, what you said wasn't dark enough. I can only say that your idea of auctioning off a portion of school admissions—that's already being implemented in Hengshui. It might even be more extreme than what you described. Private schools are indeed openly... not exactly selling to the highest bidder, but making an optimal choice based on a combination of price and test scores.
[Host (Dugong)]
When we chatted online before, you said you wanted to come and grill me, to put some pressure on our show. What's your question?
[Guest Teacher]
You've proposed many, many solutions for various issues before. So I'm curious, if you could pick any city in the country to be its chief official and conduct social experiments, are you confident that you could bring about significant growth for that city—not necessarily in economic ranking, but significant growth?
[Host (Dugong)]
I absolutely do not believe that I am an excellent city manager or someone who can change a city on my own. But on the other hand, I am absolutely confident that I can significantly raise the baseline in some places, because some places defy common sense. As media, we do two main things. First, we propose a consensus. Second, we ask the audience if they agree. If the audience agrees, this consensus already has a certain universality. We then use this consensus, this common sense, to measure what is unreasonable in society. You've seen the things we criticize here; they are precisely not about us trying to reach for the ceiling. It's about, "You're wasting money here," "How could you create something that is so obviously problematic at first glance?" For example, the Zhangjiajie Ancient Town project we just did. If you're asking if I could transcend local interests and raise the baseline a bit, I believe I have a higher baseline than many places.
[Woman]
This is a question left for you by the previous guest.
[Previous Guest's Voiceover]
Dugong has a suggestion that I think applies to all viewers of Before-Bed News. He calls on everyone to propose constructive opinions on future social issues, rather than always criticizing. Just like Dugong himself has proposed ideas like "socialized child-rearing" and "separating the health insurance for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western medicine," from your own perspective and your own industry, propose one suggestion for our social system that can be implemented with current technology—not something overly vague.
[Guest Teacher]
I've thought about this more than once—the depth of knowledge储备 at the high school level. I think the current depth is a bit too shallow. We are currently digging deeper and deeper in a very limited lake. I hope to expand it at the edges, to enrich the content. We don't necessarily need to require everyone to get a near-perfect score. If we test a wider range of knowledge, we might be able to screen for people who are more outstanding in a certain area, or at least not stifle their future potential because of a very obvious weakness in one area. I think this would be beneficial to our entire talent cultivation system.
[Host (Dugong)]
Alright, thank you for participating in our interview. It was truly excellent.
[Host (Dugong)]
I'm very familiar with the institution where this teacher works. In the autumn of 1997, I was in Shijiazhuang for the national high school physics competition training camp, and three of my roommates were from the very Hengshui high school where he now works. At the time, I was studying in the mountain city of Pingquan in northern Hebei. I had no tutors and relied entirely on a few books I gathered myself. Although their high school was also in a county town, it already had standardized competition training classes and professional tutors. Before the national competition, these roommates from elsewhere had undergone at least several months of in-school training. Looking back, this shows that southern Hebei at that time already had an education industry that surpassed its economic level, which can be seen as the starting point of the later Hengshui Model. But allow me a moment of pride here: even though I had no tutors and no specialized test training, my result in 1997 was sixth in the entire province.
This proves that at the end of the 20th century, the motivation and interests of Hebei students could still occasionally triumph over standardized test-taking machines. Over the next 20 years, the status of the Hengshui Model gradually rose, defeating its predecessor Huanggang, overshadowing its parallel Maotanchang in Anhui, and of course, defeating other regions in Hebei to become the most typical high school education model in China. The reason, as this teacher explained, is standardized indoctrination: using strict discipline to erase all personality, even all motivation, and completely turning high school students into test-taking machines. The process of Hebei becoming the world's number one steel-producing base was perfectly synchronized with the maturation of the Hengshui Model. If I were 30 years younger now and had to compete with my peers under the Hengshui Model based on my self-study ability, I wouldn't have the confidence I had back then.
But I firmly believe that learning is, first and foremost, a lifelong endeavor. Relying on external discipline is not a long-term solution. Secondly, the core driving force of learning should be curiosity and dreams. Grades achieved through coercion will be difficult to apply flexibly in technology and will not support research and development in science. So even if I were 17 today, and even if I had to take the 2026 Hebei college entrance exam, I would not want to study in a high school managed by the Hengshui Model. I would rather earn the score I deserve based on my own abilities. At the very least, I wouldn't want to lose my lifelong freedom to use the toilet due to psychological issues.
Today, this teacher shared many facts that go beyond outsiders' imagination. The most terrifying sentence for me was his consideration of letting his own child continue to study in Hengshui. When I was in high school in the 20th century, many students from Beijing and Tianjin came to Hebei county towns to study, using the learning atmosphere here to aim for high scores back in their cities. Conversely, many Hebei classmates tried to change their household registration to get an advantage in the college entrance exam in places like Tianjin or Inner Mongolia, where scores were lower. Over the past decade, Tianjin's economy has been hopeless, with only the privileges left over from the planned economy era having any value. Thus, Tianjin's business of selling school admissions has become more and more blatant, from the "blue-stamp household registration" to the real estate-tied "Haihe Elite" project. After all, buying a useless apartment can lower your score requirement by over a hundred points, surpassing a decade of hard work for a Hebei resident—a considerable temptation. But this teacher is unwilling to take this advantage, not because he can't afford a house in Tianjin, but because he knows very well that the Hengshui Model is mature and can increase scores in a more controllable way, seizing the high ground within Hebei's scoring system. As an insider of the Hengshui Model, his choice is likely correct. This indicates that the internal competition in Hebei will only become more intense, and the Hengshui Model's restriction on students' motivation will become even stronger. In the future, China's health insurance will spend more on reimbursement for ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and proctology. The crisis in population quality contained within this may be no smaller than the population quantity crisis China faces.
At the end of the program, whether it's regarding the discriminatory provincial college admission quotas or the low-level involution of the college entrance exam syllabus, I want to borrow a sentence from Mr. Lu Xun: "Save the children."[15]
Thank you all for watching. We welcome more viewers to sign up for our interview program. See you next time.
Four Provinces of Mountains and Rivers (山河四省): A recent internet meme referring to the provinces of Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Hebei. They are grouped due to large populations, relatively few top-tier universities, and consequently, the most intense competition in the gaokao (national college entrance exam).
Huanggang Normal University: Huanggang is a city in Hubei province, once famous for its own intense, exam-focused "Huanggang Model," a spiritual precursor to the Hengshui Model. Its workbooks and practice tests were legendary across China.
Hengshui Model (衡水模式): A highly militarized, high-pressure, and extremely standardized educational system pioneered by Hengshui High School. It is famous for producing top gaokao scores through rigorous schedules and discipline that eliminates nearly all non-academic activities.
Burden Reduction (减负): A nationwide government policy aimed at reducing the academic workload and stress on students. The guest's tone is ironic, implying that this grueling schedule is the "reduced" version.
Morality, intellect, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor (德智体美劳): The official five-point framework for a "well-rounded education" promoted by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The irony here is that all aspects except "intellect" (academics) are crammed into the weekend.
"Faster internet speed" (网速快): A figurative slang term meaning to be very quick at picking up the latest online trends, memes, and news.
High-intensity surfing (高强度冲浪): Popular internet slang for spending a lot of time online, deeply engrossed in social media and digital content.
Glycerin enemas (开塞露): An over-the-counter laxative. The fact that this is the "best-selling" item in the school clinic is a shocking and powerful indictment of the physical toll the high-stress, sedentary lifestyle takes on students' bodies.
"Bird that sticks its head out" (出头鸟): From the Chinese idiom "the bird that sticks its head out gets shot" (枪打出头鸟). It refers to someone who breaks conformity and is therefore the first to face negative consequences.
985/211 Universities: These numbers refer to "Project 985" and "Project 211," government initiatives to fund and create world-class universities. They represent the top tiers of higher education in China, and getting into one is the primary goal of this system.
Study gods (学神): Internet slang for students who seem to learn effortlessly and achieve genius-level results, considered a level above even the top-achieving students (学霸, xuébà, or "study tyrants").
正 character: The Chinese character 正 has five strokes. It is commonly used as a tally mark, where each stroke represents one count. Completing the character means five infractions have been recorded.
"Jiwa" (鸡娃): Literally "chicken baby." A popular slang term for a hyper-competitive parenting style where children are "injected" with classes and tutoring like a chicken being injected with stimulants, all to get ahead academically.
Cream-skimming (掐尖): The practice of elite high schools recruiting the best-performing middle school students from a wide geographic area, often across city or provincial lines, concentrating top talent.
"Save the children" (救救孩子): A famous and powerful quote from Lu Xun's seminal 1918 short story, "A Madman's Diary." It's a desperate cry against a traditional culture that he saw as "devouring" its youth. Using this quote elevates the host's critique from a policy discussion to a moral and cultural crisis.