It wasn’t the imperial exam, but Zeeyau had to 上京赴考. Most of the private and international schools here (including some popular public schools) requires an interview before admission. We have registered Zeeyau with 芳草地小学 in Bejing. It is one of the more popular public primary school in the capital city, but we are applying for the international division, so getting a place would not be ridiculously difficult. Nevertheless, we still need to bring the kid for an interview.

The interview process was well organised. As we enter the school lobby, there was 2 staff manning a little reception table, ticking off interviewee’s name and informing us to proceed to the second floor. We were handed a formal application form at the next stop and directed to a classroom to have it filled up. After that, we have to go to the next classroom to submit the form, have the documents (passport, visas, etc) verified and also paid the 500rmb application fee (which really isn’t too much compared to the 1000-6000rmb+ elsewhere).

After that, the kids will be lead by a teacher to the 3rd floor for the interview. Parents weren’t allowed to follow, but the school kept us occupied with information with regard to PTA and school bus routes.

Anyway, Zeeyau came back like 10min later. The interview went smoothly and she has passed. So we handed the result slip back to the teacher in charge and were done with the process.

We were then given another piece of paper informing us to set up a bank account (within 4 days), have the school fee deposited into the account and leave the ATM card with the school, the school will deduct school fees from it in future. This method is so much better then having to bring a whole big stack of cash to school for school fees payment (we don’t have cheque here!). This step finalised the whole application and acceptance process and confirmed a placement in the school.