Han's story broke on June 26 on Henan Provincial TV Station television program "Xiaoli Helps", and a People's Daily video report the next morning made her a national talking point.
Her score sat among the highest in Henan, the most competitive province in China's National College Entrance Examination, known as gaokao, though she was not its top scorer, and provinces now mask the exact rankings of their leading candidates. A teacher at her school in Jia county, Pingdingshan, told Jimu News she had long placed among its very best students.
Tsinghua University and Peking University, China's two leading institutions, both contacted her after the results, each offering full scholarships and living support.
Her mother, Shao Hongzhen, has had ankylosing spondylitis, a spinal arthritis, for more than a decade and is largely bedridden, unable to dress or walk unaided.
Her father farms and takes construction work to support the family and put two daughters through school, the other one in junior high. Neither parent studied past junior high.
