While most Shanghai students are enthusiastic about the new semester, city hospitals are once again busy treating a steady stream of youngsters complaining of various problems related to stress.

"When I entered the classroom on the first morning I felt a headache," said 12-year-old Liu Jun while sitting in a waiting room at Shanghai Shuguang Hospital.

Liu credits fear of this year's exams for the problem. His mother Guo Xianfang agrees.

"My son failed two subjects last semester, so I pressed him hard to review his textbooks throughout the summer vacation," said Guo.

Liu's case is not uncommon, say local doctors.

"We have several dozen young patients like Liu coming to our out-patient's department these days, claiming stomach aches, headaches, or feeling uneasy," said Chen Yong, a pediatrician at Shuguang Hospital.

A quick survey of other hospitals around the city found a near epidemic of queasy youngsters. The problem isn't new, for years local hospitals have seen business pick up with the arrival of a new semester.

While the reasons for the problem are easy to understand, they are difficult to solve.

Unlike their Western counterparts, local students face constant pressure to be accepted into good schools.

Most people are aware of the importance of China's national university entrance test, but local students say the high school entrance test they prepare for after grade 9 is even more stressful.

A student who doesn't perform well in that test won't get into a good high school, making it almost impossible to enter a top university.

The competition pushes students to spend hours every day and most of their weekends studying key topics, often completely ignoring more traditional childhood pastimes such as playing sports or hanging out with friends.

Education officials have tried to reduce the stress on students by removing middle-school entrance exams, and discouraging students from hiring tutors outside class time.

But they can't change the fact that China has more students wanting to go to university than its institutions can handle.

As long as students are battling for university spots, they will push themselves or be pushed by their parents to study unreasonably long hours.

About 70 percent of Shanghai's students receive some form of post-secondary education, much higher than the national average.

(Eastday.com 09/05/2001)