National public servants' exam 國(guó)考 (guokao)

Registration for China's national public servants' exam (shortened in Chinese as guokao) started on Oct 16 and continued until Oct 24. Although national-level government departments, affiliated public institutions and local branches will have fewer vacancies in 2014 (just over 19,000) than last year, the craze among young people to get a government job has not seen any change.

By 5 pm on the first day of the registration (Oct 16), more than 13,000 applicants had qualified to take the exam, twice as many as in 2012, according to the State Administration of Civil Service.