"It's unbelievable," said 19-year-old Zheng Hanchao, a student in the town. "The town has the same ability to switch modes as a cellphone: Sound on or off." There are usually more than 100 students squeezed into every classroom, where teachers use loudspeakers to address the class.

Founded in 1939, Maotanchang High School went through many different iterations and underwent several name changes. By 1999, however, it had become a key high school in Anhui.

Over the past decade, Maotanchang and Hengshui high schools have each maintained a college enrollment rate of above 80 percent of graduates each year.

But the exam scores from Hengshui are far more outstanding than those from Maotanchang. The students who scored highest from the latter in 2014 only ranked at 270th and 60th positions, respectively, in liberal arts and science in Anhui.

Economic engine

With a growing number of non-local parents moving temporarily to Maotanchang, hotel and real estate industries have undergone massive development in the small town in recent years.

The average annual rental rate for a one-bedroom apartment in Maotanchang has exceeded 12,000 yuan ($1,934), with the cheapest places going for some 4,000 yuan ($645) and the most expensive ones costing more than 20,000 yuan ($3,224) annually.

As a result, earning 200,000-300,000 yuan ($32,240-48,360) in a single year is not unusual for local residents, so long as they have apartments to rent out.

In addition to taking care of their children, many parents work in the town's clothing shops and manufacturing plants, providing an abundant workforce for local companies.

According to Yang Huajun, a local official, several large clothing companies plan to set up manufacturing plants in Maotanchang. "We never worry about labor shortage," Yang said proudly. Not many years ago, the town struggled economically, subsisting on selling tea and bamboo products.

In Hengshui, a similar boom has also taken place over the last several years.

The other side

In December 2013, a 17-minute-long movie entitled Blossoming Dreams was uploaded online. A movie directed by and featuring students from Hengshui High School, it shows a life on campus far different from the one imagined by outsiders.

The four main characters in the movie, two boys and two girls, are classmates. One girl loves to draw—even during classes—and dreams of becoming a cartoonist, while the other, who sits beside her, fears public speaking. Despite that, she dreams of one day becoming an accomplished orator. One of the male students, with a crush on the second girl, keeps encouraging her to take part in the school speaking contest. From a poor family, the fourth character spends all his time in rigorous study. His dream? To attend the best university in China.

For viewers, this movie provided a mind-blowing glimpse into daily life at the school. Many reacted in surprise. "A crush on a girl? I thought that was forbidden in military training camps!" "Drawing cartoons in class? I heard even bringing oranges into the classroom warranted punishment!"

"People who say Hengshui High School is a sweatshop just lack real-life experience there," said Chen Siyu, a 2011 graduate of the school. "The criticism always comes from people who know very little about it."

Chen was accepted by Beihang University in Beijing, one of China's best polytechnic universities, and is very grateful for what she learned during high school.

"I was motivated by the school's inspiring culture," Chen said. "We were all encouraged to do our best and show others how well we were getting along. I dare to speak louder in public now and learned the virtue of perseverance after my study there. The school is tolerant of different students' interests and holds various activities to tap into their wide potential."

Guo Ning from the school is the highest liberal arts scorer on the gaokao in Hebei this year. She is a cartoon lover and has written fairy tales on her blog since primary school.

In recent years, the school has also promoted exchanges with foreign high schools and sent students and teachers overseas for short-term educational trips.

Li Jinghua, an English teacher in the school, used to visit Britain and the United States regularly for training. "The advanced teaching methods that have been adopted in our classes have proved to be quite effective in raising the students' English proficiency," Li said.

While in the eyes of Xiong who once visited Hengshui High School, it is still an exam-oriented cramming school. "Although they've organized some activities out of the classes, the big chunk of the students' time is still contributed to prepare for the gaokao and you cannot say it is a balance," Xiong said on June 29 in a program of the state broadcaster China Central Television.

Kang Jian, a professor at Peking University's Department of Education, echoed with Xiong. "Hengshui High School has no rivals in the province and this has forced every high school to copy its training method to follow up and this is no good for the students, who should have more choices of education methods," he said.

Email us at: yuanyuan@bjreview.com