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Fran Lu

A Chinese single mother who quit school after Primary One carried steel tubes to support her daughter, who excelled in this year’s college entrance exams.
When Zou Pinzhi and her daughter Liu Fang saw the freshly published results of her gaokao, or national college entrance exam, they embraced and wept with joy.
The results indicate that Liu’s score was blocked – a sign that she is a top scorer in her province, Sichuan.
Several provinces, as well as Beijing, which is a provincial-level city, have introduced the score-blocking measure to prevent media hype around top scorers. Students with blocked scores will receive offers directly from the top universities.

Zou took a leave of absence to check her daughter’s score. The next day, at 6am, she returned to a construction site, starting her day by carrying steel tubes.
Zou, 48, is a single mother from the countryside. Raised in a poor family that could not afford her education, she dropped out after finishing Primary One.
She grew up taking care of her younger brother and doing farm work. She divorced when Liu Fang, her younger daughter, was two years old.
Having no other marketable skills, Zou worked as a cleaner and then as a flower shop assistant while caring for her two daughters. For the past decade, she has worked as a steel tube carrier at construction sites in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital city.

Zou can carry two six-metre-long steel tubes, each weighing 20kg, on her shoulders at once. She works for over eight hours a day.
She also sent her younger daughter to a prestigious secondary school in Chengdu, and now her older daughter is headed to one of the top universities in China.
“I cannot collapse; otherwise, no one will earn money to support them,” Zou said.
Liu is a thoughtful, diligent child. She promised her mother that while she works at construction sites, she will study just as hard.
Liu topped the senior secondary school entrance exam, earning admission to a top-tier school alongside an annual scholarship, a monthly allowance of 800 yuan (US$120), and free boarding.

When Zou offered to buy her a new mobile phone during senior secondary school, Liu declined.
Zou, who hails from the mountainous countryside, expressed her wish for her daughters to “go further and never return to the mountains.”
At the same time, she did not want her aspirations to burden her daughters. She recalls overhearing Liu tell her younger sister that she “does not want to let mum down.”
Liu’s sister responded: “Mum wants us to study hard so that we have the freedom to choose our paths. She is not imposing her dreams on us.”
Zou comforted Liu when she struggled with an exam and felt disheartened: “Don’t worry. You are still the highest scorer in our family.”

Liu stated that her gaokao score was the best she has ever achieved. Zou mentioned that Tsinghua University had already contacted them.
Liu plans to take on a part-time job during summer holiday. She wants to study accounting because she enjoys mathematics and dreams of visiting Tsinghua and Peking University.
“Mother and daughter are the best alliance,” commented one online observer.
“A bright future awaits Zou, as she has such wonderful daughters,” remarked another.


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A single mother from Sichuan worked hard on building sites carrying steel tubes to fund her daughter’s education. Photo: Douyin

Zou once expressed her deep wish for her daughters to “go further and never return to the mountains.” Photo: Handout

Lacking other marketable skills, Zou worked as a cleaner and a florist’s assistant before spending the last decade carrying steel tubes at construction sites. Photo: Handout

Zou, who dropped out after finishing Primary One because her family could not afford her education, became emotional upon learning her eldest daughter will go to a top university. Photo: Handout

Parents, at the back, look on as students line up to enter a test centre in Beijing on June 7, 2026, marking the first day of China’s gaokao. Wang Zhao/AFP

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Zou says her daughter promised to study hard while Zou toiled at construction sites


Zou says her daughter promised to study hard while Zou toiled at construction sites.


Parenting: teens

China education

Tsinghua University

Single China mum carries steel tubes to fund education, weeps, hugs daughter who aces gaokao

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Zou says her daughter promised to study hard while Zou toiled at construction sites

Zou says her daughter promised to study hard while Zou toiled at construction sites