Chinese high school students lift boring counseling books with a dash of Kung Fu plots

Can the boring counseling books become page-turners like wuxia novels?

Contrary to popular perception, 14 high school students in Chengdu, Sichuan province have achieved a near-impossible feat.

For the uninitiated, wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction featuring itinerant warriors of ancient China, often depicted as capable of superhuman feats of martial arts such as Kung Fu.

The students' compilation of five counseling books for senior high school entrance examination has become an Internet rage.

Yan Zuhuai, 15, was the topper at Chengdu Gaoxin Heping Middle School. He came first in Chengdu No.7 High School, which requires the highest cut-off marks, in June.

"I'd like to share my study experience with others," said Yan. Along with 13 other classmates, he is immersed in the compilation of SHARED SHSEE, counseling books for senior high school entrance examination.

The books cover five subjects such as mathematics, Chinese, English, physics and chemistry.

Compelling stories are used as engaging hooks to make dissemination of knowledge an enjoyable learning process.

Gender centric-books

The content of the books are tailored for boys and girls, respectively. For example, the chemistry-counseling book for girls is written in romantic wuxia style, while for boys it's like a military novel.

The English-counseling book is called A Bite of English. The book has English tongue twisters, dialogues from films and TV series and key knowledge pointers.

The Chinese-counseling book has related stories or illustrations of main characters depicted in the textbook to make the exercise lively and absorbing.

Mathematics is the most difficult subject among a vast majority of students. The counseling book has used emoticon-like illustrations to make mathematical solutions refreshing despite the obvious challenges.