Finding true calling through gaokao

Fan Yingying, head of gynecology department in Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Eastern Hospital, Zhejiang province

Fan was a local of Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

She graduated from the Ningbo No 5 High School on July 23, 1977, and was sent to do rural work at Feishi village in Jiangbei district of Ningbo. Two months later, Fan received a notice from her teacher that she could take gaokao test.

"I was the class monitor and the secretary of the Communist Youth League branch. The teacher knew me and told me to take the test. The school also opened a class for about 50 students to prepare for the gaokao."

Fan still remembers many details of taking the test. "The test venue was in the Ningbo No 1 High School, but I did not know the way, and I was 10 minutes late when I got to the venue. I heard someone was also late. According to the rule, students would be disqualified for being late 15 minutes. Now, when I think about it, I get a chill."

After the test, Fan returned to the village in Jiangbei. "I was so calm at that time. My parents expected me to stay home to wait for the enrollment notice. But I returned to the village. I did not expect the test would change my life too much, and I treated it like a very normal test. I had even filled my application carelessly. I clearly remember that teachers told us that the enrollment scores of medical universities would be high and asked us not to apply. I did not apply to a medical university, but agreed to follow the assignment."

It might be the assignment agreement that changed her life. "One day in December, I was working in the village when someone told me that I have been accepted by the Zhejiang Medical University (now, School of Medicine under Zhejiang University).."

"I did not think about being a doctor at that time, but I had no conflict. An unknown life was waiting for me in the university, so I was happy and excited," she said.

When she went to the university in March 1978, she knew that she had made the right decision.

"I found that I loved the lessons. While some students were scared to take the anatomy lessons, I wasn't. When I did not understand some questions, I would return to the classroom in the evening. When I went to hospital for clinical practice, my teacher told me that I am born to be a surgeon, suggesting me to work in the surgical department or gynecology and obstetrics department."

"There was a shortage of doctors at that time, especially obstetricians. I became an obstetrician. Although I was offered chances to move to other departments, but I love this field and do not want to move."

After graduating from the university in December 1982, Fan was assigned to the Zhoushan People's Hospital, and in 1995, she was transferred to the Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Eastern Hospital.

"I was lucky that gaokao was resumed just after I graduated from high school. It was much easier for me to take the test than former graduates. Luckily, I was assigned to a medical university and I love my job. If it was not gaokao, my life would be very different."