Gaokao tidbits

Foshan, Guangdong province: A total of 44,097 students are taking gaokao, 1,698 more than last year. Local authorities have banned square dancing, a leisure dance widely favored by elderly Chinese, within 500 meters around the city's testing venues so that students won't be disturbed during the exam. At least two police officers will be on duty at each testing site to handle any accidents during the test.

Beijing: More than 70,000 students got their admission cards on Tuesday for gaokao on Saturday and Sunday. This is the first time the testing will be held in Beijing over a weekend since the city began regulating traffic by license plate numbers, which could cause traffic jams as there are no such limits on weekends. This year, Beijing has set 12 streets as "green channels" during the two-day tests to secure smooth traffic for students. More than 1,700 taxi drivers volunteered to give candidates free rides to testing sites.

Jinan, Shandong province: Hotel prices surrounding the city's 26 testing venues have soared dramatically one week ahead of the test. The price of a single room at a hotel near Jinan No 1 Middle School, one of the testing sites, soared from 188 yuan ($30) per night to 488 yuan.

Yingjiang, Yunnan province: A total of 1,099 students will be taking gaokao in temporary buildings, as the county was hit by an earthquake on May 30. About 127 local schools were seriously affected by the quake. To help with high temperatures, the county will use 10 metric tons of bagged ice to cool down the temporary testing sites for students.