A father and son in China have captured the attention of many online after they both took the national university entrance exams and were accepted into their chosen institutions. Liu Aohan, 18, made his family proud by being admitted to the Future Aerospace Leadership Programme at Beihang University in Beijing, a prestigious university recognized globally for its excellence in aerospace engineering.
Liu Aohan achieved an impressive score of 625 out of 750, ranking 64th in the science track of the gaokao—the critical university entrance examination in China—within Qinghai province, located in the country’s northwest. In the same year, his father, Liu Jianbo, 47, also took the gaokao. He scored 454 out of 750 on the arts track and was accepted to study business management at Guangxi Normal University, situated in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southern China. Liu Jianbo began studying alongside his son when Liu Aohan was in his second year of secondary school.
At that time, Liu Aohan was distracted by video games, which negatively affected his grades. In response, his father initially resorted to physical discipline but quickly regretted it. To set a positive example, Liu Jianbo decided to become his son’s study partner. This decision coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic when education shifted online, allowing the father and son to study together at home whenever Liu Jianbo wasn’t working. From that point on, the younger Liu became the top student in his class.
“My dad is my role model. His approach to studying was even more disciplined than mine,” said Liu Aohan. What began as a strategy to motivate his son eventually inspired Liu Jianbo to pursue his own studies. A management-level employee at the local railway, Liu Jianbo had always dreamed of attending university, but financial constraints prevented it. Although he had ranked first in his prefecture in the high school entrance exams, he had to attend a vocational school instead and began working immediately after graduation to support his family financially.
Liu Jianbo mentioned that while he excelled in Chinese, his son was stronger in mathematics, allowing them to help each other improve their grades. He expressed greater pride in his son’s accomplishments than in his own.
