Moms wear qipao to wish their children good marks in Gaokao. [Photo/CFP]

Qipao a symbol of good luck for Gaokao students

At the gate of a test site in the southern city of Guangzhou, moms of Gaokao examinees wore traditional dress qipao to wish good luck to students sitting for the national college entrance exam that started on June 7.

Qipao's first Chinese word Qi, or banner, equals to the first word of the idiom "Qi Kai De Sheng", or winning the first battle.

There is another way to pray for good luck in the exam. Examinees in a test site in Chengdu, Sichuan province, held up sunflower, or xiang ri kui, in hope of taking the first place in the exam, as kui xing is a figure in Chinese mythology that serves the god of literature.

Students to sit the Gaokao hold up a sunflower in hope of getting a good mark from the test. [Photo/IC]

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