• US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Style
  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Videos
Edition
  • U.S.
  • International
  • Arabic
  • Español
Edition
  • U.S.
  • International
  • Arabic
  • Español
  • US
    • Crime + Justice
    • Energy + Environment
    • Extreme Weather
    • Space + Science
  • World
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • China
    • Europe
    • India
    • Middle East
    • United Kingdom
  • Politics
    • The Biden Presidency
    • Facts First
    • California Recall
  • Business
    • Markets
    • Tech
    • Media
    • Success
    • Perspectives
    • Videos
  • Opinion
    • Political Op-Eds
    • Social Commentary
  • Health
    • Life, But Better
    • Fitness
    • Food
    • Sleep
    • Mindfulness
    • Relationships
  • Entertainment
    • Stars
    • Screen
    • Binge
    • Culture
    • Media
  • Tech
    • Innovate
    • Gadget
    • Foreseeable Future
    • Mission: Ahead
    • Upstarts
    • Work Transformed
    • Innovative Cities
  • Style
    • Arts
    • Design
    • Fashion
    • Architecture
    • Luxury
    • Beauty
    • Video
  • Travel
    • Destinations
    • Food and Drink
    • Stay
    • News
    • Videos
  • Sports
    • Pro Football
    • College Football
    • Basketball
    • Baseball
    • Soccer
    • Tokyo 2020
  • Videos
    • Live TV
    • Digital Studios
    • CNN Films
    • HLN
    • TV Schedule
    • TV Shows A-Z
    • CNNVR
  • Audio
    • Coupons
      • CNN Underscored
      • Explore
      • Wellness
      • Gadgets
      • Lifestyle
      • CNN Store
    • Weather
      • Climate
      • Storm Tracker
      • Wildfire Tracker
      • Video
    • More
      • Photos
      • Longform
      • Investigations
      • CNN Profiles
      • CNN Leadership
      • CNN Newsletters
      • Work for CNN
    Follow CNN
    • Shen Lu
      Associate Digital Producer

      Shen Lu writes about China and produces multimedia content for CNN International. She is based in Beijing.

      Full Bio

      Iowa murder investigation

    • Killing in the heartland; heartbreak in China

    • Suspect in Iowa student murder charged in China

    • Boyfriend in Iowa killing pleads guilty; may face death penalty

    • China: Boyfriend in Iowa student killing gets life sentence

      Shen Lu produces

    • china 56 flowers faces backlash pkg matt rivers _00004505.jpg

      China's girl band reopens cultural revolution

    • The impact of Clinton's feminism in China

    • Riches to rags: Inside Beijing's first stock exchange

    • Chatty robot monk dispenses Buddhist wisdom

    • How Asians end Ramadan fasting

    • Chinese sleep on streets in their quest for justice

      Visual storytelling

    • china beijing old stock exchange original pkg_00005114.jpg

      Inside Beijing's old stock exchange

    • A guide to eat like a local in Xi'an

    • How Muslims break their Ramadan fast in Beijing

    • Beijing smog: What's it like to breathe the air?

    • Jazz thriving in the Chinese capital

    • What's on the wish list of ordinary Chinese?

    • Father, son pose for same photo for 3 decades

    • Chinese students review textbooks or write test papers to prepare for the upcoming National College Entrance Exam, also known as gaokao, at the Shanxi Library in Taiyuan city, north China's Shanxi province, 2 June 2016. Some nine million students are preparing for the biggest test of their life: China's annual college entrance examination. Called the gaokao, or "high exam," it will take place over nine hours on June 7-8 across China. It's the culmination of years of memorization and test taking, capped off by at least 12 months of grueling preparation. With its roots in the imperial examinations that started more than 2,000 years ago, the gaokao decides what school you go to and what career you might have, says Xiong Bingqi, vice president at the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Shanghai. The gaokao is an especially high hurdle for China's more than 100 million rural students, who already receive an education of far lower quality than their urban counterparts. A quota system for allocating coveted college slots by province, which greatly favors local students, also works against rural youth who often live far from the better universities and need higher test scores than local applicants to gain admission. That means urban youth are 7 times as likely to get into a college as poor rural youth and 11 times as likely to get into an elite institution, according to economist Scott Rozelle, a Chinese education researcher at Stanford. "The current system itself is unfair," Xiong says. "Inequality is inevitable."

      I am glad i failed China's toughest test

    • Smoke rises from debris on August 15 near a crater tat the center of where the explosions took place.

      Were 'hero' firefighters ill prepared for Tianjin blasts?