Road to success

Some well-known people who took the gaokao in 1977:

Premier Li Keqiang

Born in 1955 in Anhui province, Li (front, third from right) was sent to work as an "educated youth" at a village in Fengyang county, Anhui province, in 1974. He was among the 5.7 million young people who took the first gaokao after a more than 10-year suspension in 1977 and was admitted to Peking University's Law School. He visited Peking University last year and took a photo with foreign students.Wu Zhiyi/china Daily

Chen Jiangong

Writer and vice-chairman of the China Writers Association

Born in 1949 in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Chen moved to Beijing when he was 8. In 1968, he graduated from the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China and became a coal miner in western Beijing during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). He was admitted to the Chinese literature department of Peking University after passing the gaokao in 1977. Over the years, several of his works have been published overseas in Korean, Japanese, French and English.

Jiang Ming'an

Law professor at Peking University

Born in 1951 in Miluo, Hunan province, Jiang graduated from high school in 1969 before serving in the army. He passed the gaokao in 1977 and was admitted to Peking University's Law School.

He began working at the university after graduating in 1982, and is now an expert on the Constitution and administrative law.

Meng Xiaosu

Director-general of China National Real Estate Development Group

Born in 1949 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Meng moved to Beijing with his parents at age 4. During the "cultural revolution", he worked at the Beijing Automobile Works, later part of BAIC Motor Corp. After taking the gaokao, he studied journalism at Peking University. Meng had several jobs after graduation, including secretary to Wan Li, former chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee. He later founded Happy Life Insurance and director-general of the China National Real Estate Development Group, one of China's earliest property enterprises.

Yuan Junying

Professor of cellular biology at Harvard Medical School and a fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Born in 1958 in Shanghai, Yuan was assigned to work in a textile machinery plant in 1976. She gained the highest score in Shanghai in the 1977 gaokao and went on to study biology at the city's Fudan University. She earned a doctorate in neurology from Harvard University in 1989 and became an assistant professor, obtaining tenure in 2000. Yuan is best known for her work in apoptosis, the process of cell death in multicellular organisms.