Among the millions of young students sitting China's dreaded "gaokao" college entrance exam, Liang Shi sticks out like a sore thumb. He is a grey-haired millionaire, stubbornly taking the test for the 27th time!
Liang is 56 years old, and he is no fool. He worked his way up from a job in a factory to owning a successful construction business.
But one dream has always escaped him: getting a high enough score on the difficult gaokao to study at university.
To compete with the 13 million high school students taking the exam this year, Liang says he has been living "the life of a monk" for the past few months, rising just after dawn to study textbooks for 12 hours a day.
"It's an uncomfortable thought that I didn't manage to get a college education," Liang says. "I really want to go to university."
Over the past four decades, he has taken the gaokao 26 times, but has always failed to get the required result to send him to his chosen university.
For students, a good gaokao result can decide one's life, with a degree from a good university bringing better job opportunities.
Liang took the exam for the first time in 1983, when he was only 16. He kept trying to boost his score for the next decade. He has since taken the gaokao another 16 times, including every year since 2010.
Asked how he would celebrate once the test is over this weekend, he said he was planning to make up for lost fun.
"I'm going to play mahjong with my friends for three days and three nights!"
