Gaokao, or the Nationwide Unified Examination for Admission to General Universities and Colleges is an annual exam for Uni admission. In early June each year, soon-to-be high school graduates sit for the 2-day exam on various subjects. English has been a staple in the exam for decades, and so has the listening section. Now Youdao has tracked down the man behind the voice: Kris Chung, a Chinese American with Shanghai and Hong Kong heritage.
Youdao is NetEase’s dictionary and language learning arm that started as an online dictionary in 2007. This new listening campaign is for its Dictionary Pen X7 Pro. The “dictionary pen” is a smart device with a scanner and a screen. It will scan text on paper or signs and convert them into data to translate or look up words on its screen. It also has an audio function that pronounces the words. And that is where Chung comes in. A voice pack loaded with Chung reading the words is now available.
Chung has been the voice of Gaokao English listening tests since the year 2000 and millions, if not billions have heard his voice. Since students usually study, practice and are tested against past exams, and the voice in these exams become part of their revision routine for months. That is why many jokingly say that Chung’s voice can trigger PTSD in them. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “The man behind Gaokao English listening test has been found” (#高考听力背后的男人找到了#) reached number 46 on the Hot Search list with 9.23 million views.
Although English has been reported over the years to take less weight in Gaokao, it is still one of the major subjects of the exams. With education back in the “encouraged” sectors for stimulating consumption, companies such as Youdao are quick to leverage their advantage in language learning. With its dictionary pen now armed with the real voice for Gaokao English listening, Youdao is trying to push the dictionary pen from casual English learning into academic language study.
