Symbolic Credit and Social Inequality: The Hidden Currency in China's Gaokao System

What if success in China's rigorous college entrance exam (Gaokao) depends not only on knowledge acquisition but also on a hidden currency of moral qualities? Drawing from 12 months of ethnographic research and 149 interviews conducted in two Beijing high schools with different academic standings, this study introduces the concept of "symbolic credit" produced during the Gaokao preparation year by key actors—students, teachers, parents, schools, and the government. Beyond academic exercises, symbolic credit encompasses moral attributes such as effort, skills, and selectivity, which shape subjective rankings and influence both educational aspirations and outcomes.

This paper expands discussions on cultural capital by examining the "capitalization" of symbolic resources, such as exam scores and rankings, during Gaokao preparation. Teachers selectively recognize certain student behaviors and convert them into exam scores. These scores, in turn, operate as an "accounting system of symbolic credits," where students must work diligently to accumulate these symbolic assets in order to meet the collective expectation of “earning” real resources—better schools, superior teachers, and high-performing peers. This system legitimizes the unequal distribution of educational opportunities and drives both students and parents to invest in the exam system.

Parental investments play a pivotal role. Parents enable their children to secure symbolic credits, gaining access to better educational resources at subsequent stages, while repaying earlier "loans" by demonstrating that public resources invested in their children have produced results: contributing to the nation’s human capital needs.

This study explores how competition mobilizes social investment in education, creating a consistent moral hierarchy among individuals from diverse social backgrounds. Moreover, it examines how the Gaokao resolves the paradox between elite selection and educational democratization by fostering self-selection throughout the preparation process.