Pressures of crucial national college entrance exam exacerbated by menstrual factor, folk remedies like mango, blueberries, durian also tried
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenFran Luin BeijingPublished: 2:00pm, 11 Jun 2026As China’s gaokao, or national college entrance exam, fell on June 7 to 10 this year, the bigger challenge that female candidates face during the test is receiving increasing attention online.
Gaokao is an exam that most Chinese secondary school pupils take to further their study.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics in China, females account for around half of the secondary school pupils in recent years.
Of all the female gaokao candidates, around 30 per cent might have their periods overlapping with sitting the exam, according to an obstetrics and gynaecology influencer nicknamed liucenglou.
These young women have been seeking contraceptives and sometimes folk remedies to postpone their periods.
