In the past two days, more than 10 million Chinese graduates joined this year’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination, a.k.a Gaokao exams. For most of them, they’ve sacrificed countless weekends and holidays for this glorious exam, because they’ve been told that to enter a top university (and join the Party) is their only way to attain a bright future in China.

The above video recorded a graduation ceremony in Hantai High School, Hanzhong, Shanxi. The students tore up their books and papers and threw them into sky. Besides hormone and tears, you can also smell some deep desperation.