Virus sees students facing a new class of challenge

Just a few months ahead of the gaokao, candidates in Wuhan, Hubei province, face another challenge－the novel coronavirus.

Two of those students spoke with TrumanStory, a new media platform. They explained how they are preparing for the national college entrance exam amid the city's lockdown and the delayed start of the spring semester.

Li Xiaowen, Grade three science student at Hongshan High School

Taking online courses at home suits me, as I am not so good at math. At home, I can assign time to different subjects, according to my situation. For instance, solving math problems in the morning, when I am energetic, and later reciting poems to relax.

If I don't get to study medicine at college, I will regret it forever. I watched a video online in which a retired doctor was asked why she volunteered to work on the front line at such an advanced age and if she was afraid of becoming infected. I cried when she said, "It's an honor for a medical warrior to die on the battlefield."

I believe that every medical worker faces the same risks as Yang Wen, Tao Yong and Li Wenliang (doctors who became severely ill at work or died as a result of their profession).

My dream school is Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and I hope I can become a doctor and care for patients.

I was motivated by the medical workers flooding into Wuhan to help, and I gain hope from seeing more people paying attention to the suffering of doctors and giving them a voice.

Xiang Xie, Grade three arts student at No 1 Middle School Affiliated to Central China Normal University

I felt both happy and anxious when the school announced that the winter vacation would start earlier, on Jan 20. One-third of my classmates wore masks that day, and the price of each N95 mask rose to 40 yuan ($5.70) at the local store.

I only brought home the books I needed for the winter vacation assignments. No one expected that we wouldn't go back to school for quite a while.

On the day Wuhan was sealed off, I saw lots of comments on social media stigmatizing Wuhan people as "selfish", "zombies", and "can't hold their mouths" (unable to control their desire for unusual foods).

I refuted each one. It is annoying and biased to judge a whole community by the actions of a single person.

Online classes can sometimes be interesting. Our math teacher, who is stuck in a rural area without Wi-Fi, has to borrow a signal from his neighbor. His classes are accompanied by the noise of crows. The geography teacher sent three smiling emojis in reply to my question, which was a real departure from her usual image.

I have focused on the exam papers to ease my anxiety. My eyes hurt after staring at the computer screen for such a long time.