Chen Jiaqi from Guangdong and He Chuanyang from Chongqing were top performers in this year's college entrance examinations, and both have opted to pursue tertiary education in Hong Kong. In July, 292 mainland students were admitted to the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Ms Chen decided to turn down her offer because her family could not afford the tuition fees, which range from HK$60,000 to HK$120,000. Ms Chen said she had dreamed of studying in Hong Kong since she was a child, and she had hoped to win HKU's top scholarship of HK$140,000 per year. Unfortunately, she says, her hopes were dashed by a less than spectacular performance at the entrance interview. She has also applied for the Chinese University (CU) and is waiting for news. She said if the scholarship could not cover education expenses in Hong Kong, she would enrol at Tsinghua University, one of the mainland's most prestigious universities. Mr He, the No 1 student in Chongqing in the national college examinations, was also having a hard time entering the schools he wanted to study at in Hong Kong. Like Ms Chen, he also applied for HKU but failed to get a place because his English was not up to the university's rigorous admission standards. Before applying for HKU, Mr He had originally planned to study at Peking University. But the university rejected his application because he lied about his ethnic origins. Minorities on the mainland are given 20 bonus points in the college examinations, and Mr He, who is Han, said he belonged to an ethnic minority.
