Can burning incense or wearing qipao bring good luck in gaokao?

Chinese parents and teachers are praying for their children's good performance in this year's national college entrance exam, or gaokao,which is from Tuesday to Friday. With 11.93 million students across the country writing the exam, a new high, the competition is stiff.

No wonder, parents and teachers are leaving nothing to chance, from burning incense to wearing qipao. But will that really help?

According to an online post that went viral on Wednesday, an apartment in Nantong city, Jiangsu province, caught fire after a couple burned incense to invoke the Buddha for their children's success in gaokao and later left it unattended. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident.

And on Saturday, at a high school in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, some teachers including several male ones, cheered their students by wearing qipao, a kind of traditional women's dress. They did so because it's becoming increasingly fashionable in recent years for mothers to pray for good luck for their wards during exams wearing qipao, which is seen as a sign of victory.

Every year, a new batch of students sit for gaokao after years of preparation, fully aware that they need a good score for a bright future, as the exam is the only way to get into a Chinese university and the score decides which universities one is eligible for. It also decides if the candidate will manage to get a well-paid job in the future.

Traditionally, Chinese families attach great importance to their children's education. Therefore, parents and teachers can go to great lengths to make sure their wards have every possible advantage. Sometimes, it is the parents who are more stressed than their wards before gaokao.

Although the fire incident in Nantong was unfortunate, the parents were burning incense only out of love for their children. They might even know that burning incense or observing other rituals will not make any difference to their children's results, but they don't want to leave anything to chance. Besides, it gives them a kind of spiritual comfort.

However, they must understand that they should trust their children's hard work and efforts more than any prayer or custom. Indeed, the gaokao is a big challenge for students, their parents and teachers, but, surely, there are better ways to release that stress than worship Buddha or wear a qipao.

The author is a writer with China Daily.