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赶考

趕考
gǎnkǎo
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to hurry off to take an exam
  2. 2 (political) to face an ongoing test of governance; to carry on the revolutionary struggle

Examples

他从小就立志要去北京赶考。
Tā cóng xiǎo jiù lìzhì yào qù Běijīng gǎnkǎo.
From a young age he was determined to go take the exam in Beijing.
我们党要继续赶考,永远保持清醒。
Wǒmen dǎng yào jìxù gǎnkǎo, yǒngyuǎn bǎochí qīngxǐng.
Our Party must keep sitting the exam, forever staying clear-headed.
新时代是一场新的赶考。
Xīn shídài shì yì chǎng xīn de gǎnkǎo.
The new era is a new round of the exam.

Tips

history
The political sense traces to March 1949, when Mao Zedong told comrades as they left Xibaipo for Beijing: '今天是进京赶考的日子' ('today we're going to the capital to sit the exam'), meaning taking power was itself an exam history would grade. Xi Jinping revived the metaphor around the CCP's 100th anniversary in 2021. Named a 2021 Top 10 buzzword by 《咬文嚼字》.
register
Literally 赶 'hurry to' + 考 'exam'—used for students rushing to the gaokao. The political usage only works in party/state discourse; in daily speech it just means 'rush off to an exam.'

Stroke Order

赶 gǎn
考 kǎo