By Liu Dong in Shanghai

Liu Yanxia, a 17-year-old Chongqing girl who has studied and lived in Shanghai for 10 years, is familiar with being treated differently by her classmates. She doesn't call it "discrimination," but she understands she is standing at a crossroads of her life once again.

When Liu graduated from primary school four years ago, she was not admitted to the best middle school in her neighborhood, while one of her classmates who had an entrance test score 50 points lower than her and is Shanghainese, succeeded.

This time, she was not even able to take the zhongkao, the national high school entrance examination in Shanghai. Several years from now, while her Shanghainese classmates might be white-collar office workers, Liu, the daughter of migrant workers, may be toiling as a blue-collar worker on a factory assembly line.

"Sometimes I really feel life is unfair and I'm angry. I made no less effort than those local students. Why I can't I even have a chance to pursue the life I want?" Liu told the Global Times.

Ten years ago, Liu's parents sold one year's worth of harvest in their Chongqing hometown for ship tickets to Shanghai. The three spent a week on the water from one end of the Yangtze River to the other to pursue their dream in the metropolis. At the time, Liu was only 8-years-old.

Liu spent her first two years of primary school study at a migrant worker's school, where she did not have to pay the 170 yuan ($25) temporary schooling fees that she would have had to pay in a public school as a migrant worker's child. Two years later, after her parents had a more stable income, she was transferred to a public primary school, Tangzhen Primary School for a better education.

Here she mixed with Shanghai kids after her parents paid both school fees and special fees imposed on non-Shanghai children. Liu felt great pressure to catch up, but it wasn't easy. For example, she scored only 10/100 on an English section of the entrance examination, which caused her to repeat Grade 2.

"I was really sad at that time. But you know what, I will never forget the score I got at the second exam. Sixty three! Though it was still not good, I had hope and I knew I can study as well as the local students, even though my foundation is weaker. I want to prove it," Liu said.

More roadblocks

However, her road to a quality Shanghai education has continued to be blocked with obstacles that have nothing to do with her academic skills. When she graduated from primary school, she was ranked No 2 on the graduation examination among all the graduating students that year. According to the education policy in Shanghai, she was supposed to able to enter the best school in her neighborhood. But instead she was told that she must attend Tangzhen Middle School, where over 80 percent of the students are migrants.

Liu and other non-Shanghai students are officially separated from their Shanghai peers due to their non-residential status. From day one, they are told that they will not be allowed to take the zhongkao in Shanghai, according to the existing education policy.

But when asked by the Global Times, Ni Jiangang, headmaster of Tangzhen Middle School, denied that the students are treated differently.

"Our teachers told us they separate us for better 'organizational' concerns, " Wu Xiaoyan, a Grade 1 student from Anhui Province told the Global Times.

Liu Tongchun, a senior English teacher who taught more than 20 years middle school in downtown area of Shanghai and who has been temporarily transferred to Tangzhen Middle School told the Global Times, "Many of my students who are non-Shanghainese are really talented and would be as capable of entering high school as the Shanghai students if they were allowed to take the zhongkao here."

Ying Houqing, deputy direct of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (SMEC) said the city doesn't have the resources to handle all the students who want to attend high school. "The time is not ripe yet for non-local students who want to study in high schools in Shanghai. So far, our educational resources can't afford to handle students from all over the country want come to Shanghai to study," he said.

Three choices

"My friends like me who are not Shanghainese usually have three choices after they graduate from middle school," said Liu. "The first is to go back to our hometowns for high school in hope of getting into universities. The second is to study at a second-rate vocational school in Shanghai. The third is to simply find a job."

Liu said that almost all the Shanghainese students in her school will choose to pursue further education after middle school while only half of the migrant students would do so due to the zhongkao boundary.

Huang Zhengqin, Liu's teacher told the Global Times that the teachers usually persuade non-Shanghai students with good educational foundations to return to their hometowns to take the zhongkao if they want to go to high school.

"In order to attend university one day, I have to go back to my hometown next semester. But I really want to stay in Shanghai instead of leaving. I like the life and friends here while I don't even remember what my hometown looks like. But I also want to go to high school," Yao Rui, a Grade 1 student from Anhui Province who has lived in Shanghai for eight years, said.

In 2009, the first time in nine years, Liu and her parents returned to her hometown, a mountainous area of Chongqing, for the Chinese New Year. "My real purpose was to see the schools in my hometown and then make a decision whether I should go or stay," Liu said.

Liu said she felt out of place in her hometown. "I was not even used to walking on the mountain trails because I've been walking so long on Shanghai's asphalt and concrete.

"When I talked to my cousin who studied at a top middle school in our town, I was so disappointed that she only knew some film stars' names but nothing about her future. And all her spare time was occupied by endless tests."

Shining in Shanghai

Liu was a member of the choir and guzheng club in her middle school and performed at the Shang-hai Concert Hall on Children's Day. In May, Liu and 10 other migrant children together with some Shanghainese students served as hosts to welcome African children visiting the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

She can't find this creative and exciting life in her hometown where she fears her life would be consumed by the examination-oriented education system.

"I won't be happy even I eventually go to a university," said Liu "At least I have more choices in Shanghai and I think university may not be the only way to success."

Although Liu dislikes the idea of going to a vocational school, she said she plans to attend one in Shanghai that will also allow her to take a special college entrance exam following graduation.

Liu Yanxia

Vocational schools are generally considered for academically weak students, but even migrant students were barred from them in Shanghai before 2008.

Tang Jiamin, a staff member from the Shanghai Jiuqian Volunteer Center nearby the Tangzhen Middle School, which has focused on helping migrant children find better educational opportunities in the city since 2006, told the Global Times "the vocational school acceptance rate for Shanghainese students is as high as 98 percent, whereas it is less than 10 percent for non-Shanghai students."

What sparks other controversy is the limited subjects that migrant students are allowed to study. "Local students may apply for popular majors, such as airline hostesses, secretaries and art designers. But only some labor-intensive subjects are available for migrant students, such as auto mechanics and restaurant service," Tang said.

Gu Jun, a professor of sociology from Shanghai University, said the problems can't be solved if the existing hukou (household registration) and education policies in the country don't change.

Last year, Shanghai Municipal government announced it would spend 3.69 billion yuan ($540 mil-lion) so 100 percent of the migrant students in Shanghai could go to public or private schools for a free nine-year compulsory education by the end of this year. But because it only covers compulsory education, for the 420,000 non-Shanghainese students like Liu graduating in 2010, it changes nothing.

One dream realized

"I once told my mother about my dream that one day I will go abroad to see the outside world. But she laughed at me and thought it was just a daydream of a migrant worker's child. But it really is coming true," Liu said.

Liu will join other choir members for a trip to New Zealand in August where they will perform a program organized by the Children's Palace of China Welfare Institute.

"I know the road I'm on is long and hard. I wish I were younger or policy change could come overnight. But I have to face reality," said Liu. "I just hope my younger sisters and brothers don't have to go through the same thing I have."

Most popular majors for Shanghainese vocational school students

Airline service

Financial service

Human resources management

Property management

International logistics management

Advertising design

Secretary

International business

Tourism management

Electronic commerce

Source: media reports

Most popular vocational school majors for non-Shanghainese students

Computer numerical control machinery operation

Restaurant service

Telecommunication cable repair

Hairdressing

Auto mechanics

Welding

Cooking

Business English

Computer application

Electronic equipment production

Source: 2010 Official Guidebook of Vocationational Shanghai Schools for Children of Migrant Workers