Matt Ely's Reviews > Meritocracy and Its Discontents: Anxiety and the National College Entrance Exam in China

This is a good anthropological profile of the test-taking apparatus in modern China. Perhaps the best element is how the author layers perspectives about place-making and social advancement onto the perspectives shared by students, parents, and educators. Howlett does a good job of contextualizing norms and translating them for a Western audience in terms of what's shared and what's unique.