Monday, 15 Jan 2001, High School Year 1, Shijiazhuang, China

Today was the end-of-term examination. And when the exam supervisor stepped into the room, it happened to be our class Tutor, Mr. Liu, who is universally loved.

As Mr. Liu handed out the exam paper, he also went through the exam regulations. He warned everyone not to cheat, or otherwise be expelled immediately from the room and have his paper zero-marked. He paused and looked at the few of us in the room from his class and said: of course, I will give those from my class a favour. If any of you cheat, I will still let you continue finishing your exam.”

Just as everyone’s jaw dropped, he smiled and added: “I will only expel you and zero-mark your paper at the end.”