The 2025 Chinese National College Entrance Examination has officially begun. On June 8th, the topic of the “quintuplets taking the exam at the same time” in Taihu County, Anhui Province, has hit the hot search lists on various mainland social media platforms. The five siblings entered the exam centers at Anqing Jiuzhong and Shihua Yizhong respectively.
This year, the national college entrance exam in China is scheduled from June 7th to 8th. According to data released by the Chinese Ministry of Education, a total of 13.35 million people have registered for the exam.
On June 7th, Tang Zehua, the principal of Anqing Yucai Middle School, told Da Wanxin News that the quintuplets, known locally as the “Five Blessings,” namely Chen Xinya, Chen Shengao, Chen Jieou, Chen Yumei, and Chen Canfei, each entered Anqing Jiuzhong and Shihua Yizhong exam centers.
Tang Zehua introduced that these five students are all studying dance, and the school waived their tuition fees, living expenses, and professional training fees over the three years of high school, totaling over 500,000 RMB.
He said: Currently, three of the quintuplets are taking the exam at Anqing Jiuzhong, while the other two are at Shihua Yizhong, “I believe they will achieve excellent results in the college entrance exam.”
On the morning of the 7th, the quintuplets’ father, Chen Qiangbiao, posted on his WeChat Moments: “If all five children can enter the exam room smoothly, it’s already 50% success, the remaining 50% is up to fate.”
The story of the quintuplets dates back to December 6, 2006, when a fisherman named Shi Youqin from Xuqiao Town, Taihu County, gave birth to five children at a hospital in Anqing City, who were locally referred to as the “Five Blessings.”
Initially, when Shi Youqin was three months pregnant, she was mistakenly identified by the doctors as a woman about to give birth. Later, when she went to a larger hospital for prenatal checkups, she was told she might be having twins. At seven months, she was informed that she might be having triplets.
However, when the five little lives finally arrived, both she and her husband Chen Qiangbiao were amazed. Among the five children, the second and third are boys, and the other three are girls.
As a couple with limited education, naming the five children was left to the netizens. Among the many names proposed, the couple chose Chen Xinya, Chen Shengao, Chen Jieou, Chen Yumei, and Chen Canfei.
Shi Youqin explained that the reason for choosing these five names was mainly symbolic, with each name containing the characters for “metal, wood, water, fire, earth,” and the last character representing the “Asian, Australian, European, American, and African” continents.
However, for the couple from a fishing background, raising five children was not an easy task. When the quintuplets were three years old, the couple moved to the urban area of Anqing and rented a temporary home.
Since then, Chen Qiangbiao worked outside, while Shi Youqin took care of the children’s daily lives and education. As the quintuplets grew day by day, the local government kindergarten accepted all five children free of charge.
In September 2013, the quintuplets started attending Anqing Park Primary School. The school placed them in different classes. After graduating from Anqing No. 2 Middle School, they continued to study at Anqing Yucai Middle School for high school. This year, their high school graduation marks a significant milestone in their lives.
Chinese netizens have been discussing the story of the quintuplets: “I remember seeing this story a long time ago, the names have profound meanings, combining metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and the five continents of the Olympics, it’s unforgettable”…
In fact, quintuplets in China are not uncommon. In 2002, Wang Cuiying, a villager from Cangzhou, Hebei Province, gave birth to quintuplets. Today, all five children have grown up and been admitted to undergraduate programs. However, in a media interview last November, Wang Cuiying admitted, “If I could do it over, I wouldn’t want to give birth to any of them.”
She recounted that over the years, she struggled to survive with her five children. Her husband worked multiple jobs in the south to support them, living on the cheapest meals and doing the most strenuous work. In 2017, her husband passed away due to exhaustion.