China's post-gaokao economy boosts tourism, electronics, beauty sector

Tourism, electronic products, the beauty sector and training schools across the country have been seeing their businesses thrive after 10.78 million students took the gaokao, China's national college entrance exam, which ended earlier this month.

After gaokao, students select mobile phones in a shop in Lanzhou, northwest China’s Gansu province. (Lanzhou Daily/Zhang Dan)

The order volume related to tourist products for college candidates and their peers soared by 78 percent between June 10 and July 30 compared with the same period last year, while hotel orders for this group of consumers increased by more than 30 percent year on year, according to statistics.

Most of the cities where the top 10 domestic popular tourist destinations are located are in northwestern China, explained Feng Rao, head of Chinese tourism website Mafengwo's tourism research center. To attract college candidates, many scenic spots also offer discounted ticket prices.

China's e-commerce platform, Pinduoduo, revealed that following gaokao, sales of mobile phones, computers and other digital products on its platform surged. Of particular note, sales of digital products on the first day of the end of gaokao rose more than 210 percent compared to the previous day.

"Many parents want to reward their children for studying so hard by satisfying their desire for consumption," explained Zhang Zheng, a lawyer with the Tianjin Teda Law firm.

Li Bo, chief director of a beauty salon chain in Beijing, said that more high school students patronized his shop after the gaokao than usual. "Adolescent children are very concerned about their appearance. Now, after the stress of the gaokao, they finally have the time to come here," Li said.

In addition to hairdressing and makeup, recent years have also seen mini-plastic surgeries becoming more popular among college candidates, as they are willing to improve their looks by going under the knife.

Some also focus on obtaining other skills, including driving and programming. "I'm going to learn something about programming during this summer vacation," revealed Shi Mingyang, a college candidate who is not yet sure about what to major in, “I've had enough fun. Now I want to learn programming, which will be quite handy in the future."