Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 1175 This year's challenge is very high, the launch day of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Foundation (Bonus chapter for monthly pass winners)
"Keep a calm mind, you can do it," Fang Yan said to Director Chen.

Director Chen nodded solemnly upon hearing Fang Yan's words.

Then he strode inside.

Once all the candidates had entered the examination room, Fang Yan felt that the area around her suddenly became empty. There weren't actually that many family members present, and some people had come alone.

School leaders are already calling on the family members who are waiting outside to go to a shady place and have some plum juice, mung bean soup or boiled water.

This is the first time in both his lives that Fang Yan has waited outside the examination hall. In his previous life, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners were no longer used as emergency responders, and since no one in his family was taking the college entrance examination, this is his first time doing so.

It feels a bit strange.

In the following time, no family members or examinees experienced any health problems. Fang Yan chatted with everyone until she received the notification that the exam was nearing its end.

When the bell rang to signal the end of the exam, the candidates poured out of the examination room.

As soon as Director Chen came out, he said to Fang Yan and the others:

"I feel that this year's exam was more difficult than last year's!"

This year marks the first time that the national exam questions have been set uniformly. The exam-setting team has covered more comprehensive knowledge points and the question types are more flexible.

I believe it's true that the dialect is difficult to understand.

The younger brother asked Director Chen, "So, were there any particularly difficult questions?"

Director Chen said:
"The political science subject has added content related to the 'Great Debate on the Criterion of Truth,' which requires candidates to combine theory with analysis of real-world problems. It's no longer as simple as just memorizing the content and writing it down as it was last year."

"How did you feel about the exam? Did you answer any of the questions?" Sun Jialin quickly asked her husband.

"Of course I managed to do it. I've been studying like this every day, how could I not be able to handle it?" Chen Kaige said to his wife.

Sun Jialin patted his chest and said:

"You startled me. I thought you were stumped by what you just said."

Chen Kaige said:
"I'm worried about the upcoming exams, like tomorrow's math exam."

He said in dialect:

"Don't think that far ahead. When soldiers come, we'll deal with them; when water comes, we'll dam it."

Hearing the dialect, Director Chen recalled the feeling after receiving acupuncture and asked:
"By the way, Brother Fang, are you coming again tomorrow?"

Fang Yan shook his head and said:

"I'm not coming. Old Meng is coming tomorrow. I have things to do at the research institute. I need to get it done before August 1st."

Director Chen looked at Meng Jimin:

"Then I'll have to trouble Brother Meng to give me acupuncture tomorrow."

"Still pricking me?" Meng Jimin was both amused and exasperated. Was he addicted?

Director Chen said:
"It'll clear your head!"

Upon hearing this, Meng Jimin smiled and nodded:

"Okay, I'll give you a few injections later, I guarantee it'll wake you up."

The younger brother asked them:

"Does this count as cheating?"

He said in dialect:

"No, that won't do. This is just about unleashing one's potential!"

After saying this, he called to the crowd:
"Alright, it's getting hotter and hotter. We finished our exams this morning, so let's hurry up and go somewhere else."

Sun Jialin nodded:
"Yes, let's find a place to stay for a while, then have lunch. If we have time then, we can review some more for the Chinese exam this afternoon."

Upon seeing her, he still habitually exerted pressure, and Fang Yan corrected him:
"He doesn't need to study now. The most important thing is to get some rest. He can just perform as usual this afternoon."

Sun Jialin thought about her husband's state just now, and finally nodded in agreement.

After all, Fang Yan was last year's top scorer, so her experience was definitely better than hers. She just habitually believed in those who were more experienced. Afterwards, Fang Yan and the others rested for a while and then found a place to have lunch.

To ensure that Director Chen could perform at his best, Fang Yan specifically controlled his food intake.

If you eat too much, all the blood will go to your stomach, and you'll be mentally foggy in the afternoon.

Next up is the Chinese exam in the afternoon.

Just like in the morning, it lasted a total of 120 minutes.

After the exam, it was already four o'clock. Afterwards, Professor Chen said that the afternoon's Chinese language exam included argumentative essay analysis in modern text reading, requiring students to extract the main arguments and analyze the logic, making it significantly more difficult than last year's narrative text reading. Fortunately, his humanities subjects weren't too problematic, so he actually performed quite well in the afternoon.

Then today's exams are over. Next up are tomorrow's humanities math and history, and science math and physics.

Director Chen's exam is in the humanities, so the only relatively difficult subject tomorrow should be math.

Last year's math exam was nothing short of hell.

With the nationwide unified exam this year, it's unclear whether the difficulty will increase or decrease. However, given today's format, it's likely that the difficulty will increase. After all, newspapers have reported that the number of applicants increased from 570 million in 1977 to 610 million in 1978. Although more universities are starting to enroll students this year, increased competition is inevitable.

Many of those who were admitted to university last year secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After experiencing the basic questions in 1977, Director Chen felt immense pressure when faced with the more discriminatory exam paper in 1978.

However, this "difficulty" was not an overemphasis, but rather a closer alignment with the requirements of higher education for basic knowledge. It also laid the foundation for subsequent standardized tests. The question-setting approach in 1978 basically established the core framework of the college entrance examination for the next few decades.

In plain terms, it will only get harder from here on out...

After the exams ended the following day, Fang Yan had originally told Director Chen and Sun Jialin to go home, and Fang Yan and his team also finished work.

Taking Meng Jimin along, they headed towards the East District. On the way, Meng Jimin asked Fang Yan:

Do you think our school will admit more students this year than last year?

He said in dialect:

"It's definitely more than last year, but the quality of TCM practitioners is definitely not as good."

"Those who studied traditional Chinese medicine from elementary school have basically all taken the exam last year. There may be some who didn't pass, but that should only be a small number. Moreover, most traditional Chinese medicine colleges in the south have started recruiting students now, so this year they will most likely recruit people from provinces and cities near Beijing."

Meng Jimin nodded after hearing this.

Then, in dialect, he continued:
"However, these people will be the main force in the future, and the funds I have are also aimed at these people."

"I had the school advertise for me before the college entrance exam."

“Tell students applying to Capital University of Chinese Medicine that they will not only receive scholarships from the university, but also receive a grant from me. I believe many people will come for these two sources of funding.”

Meng Jimin said to Fang Yan:

"Isn't this a bit too pragmatic?"

"Pragmatism? That's too strong a word, Lao Meng. Think about those students outside the exam hall, memorizing under the scorching sun, their sweat dripping into the ground. Their families save up half a year's worth of food stamps just to buy a single set of review materials. And then you say, 'You can't talk about money when you're studying medicine,' how are they supposed to get through five years of hard study?" Fang Yan said.

He paused and said:

“Old Meng, poor students can’t even get enough to eat, how can they be expected to study traditional Chinese medicine without distractions? Our foundation and scholarships are to help them get a foothold first.”

"Besides, our ancestor's book 'The Great Physician's Sincerity' says 'first develop a heart of great compassion and empathy,' but it doesn't say that doctors shouldn't be allowed to eat their fill! True compassion is ensuring that students have no worries about their livelihood."

Meng Jimin said:
"But I'm afraid these people aren't genuinely interested in learning traditional Chinese medicine; they're just here to make money. They might not learn it well and end up wasting your money."

Fang Yan shook his head and said:
"The money isn't given away for nothing. Students who receive the grant have to sign an agreement to serve traditional Chinese medicine for five years after graduation. This is called 'using money to keep people in place,' which is much better than having talented people poached by foreign pharmaceutical companies!"

“My fund has a clear price: if you take the money, you have to sign a ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Contract.’ You must work in a TCM hospital and conduct TCM research for the first five years after graduation. If you breach the contract, you will be fined ten times the amount! This is called using capital to nurture a spark, which is better than the spark going out on its own.”

Upon hearing this, Meng Jimin suddenly realized that Fang Yan was considering this.

Then, in dialect, he continued:
"Old Meng, there's nothing we can do about it. Our situation might be much more difficult than you think. Just think about how many TCM students were recruited nationwide last year? If we don't attract people with real money now, and foreign companies come in and poach them with high salaries, TCM won't even be able to retain its promising talents!"

P.S.: That's all for today. Please come early tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)