Editor's Note:
 As the results of China's all-important college entrance examination, known as the gaokao, have recently emerged, where are our eyes fixed? This is what we care about most.
Amid the annual gaokao hype, which is as strong as ever this year, most parents tend to focus on high marks and who are gaokao champions while paying less attention to the super-scorers’ overall quality，their family backgrounds as well as differences in terms of the atmosphere of school. Consequently, China's media have commenced their annual ritual of converting the top scorers into student-celebrities., who can hardly guide those awestruck parents to prepare their little kids for exam success, with the exception of giving them the feeling of disappointment and the sense that those models bordering upon legendary figures are simply impossible to imitate and learn from.
To divert from such laser-like focus on the winners, we are trying to access the truth of their real life and to figure out deep down some foundation underpinning their academic accomplishments.　
Principal Liu Pengzhi of RDFZ, counselor of the State Council and member of National Educational Advisory Committee，writing in Guangming Daily on June 9, 2015，holds the view that school education is certainly important in imparting knowledge and skills. “When it comes to the cultivation of character and morality, physical and mental health as well as emotion management, family education plays an irreplaceable and more powerful role, exerting a far-reaching and lifelong influence on kids.” she notes.
Thus, inspired by Principal Liu’s article, we focus on family education in an attempt to get to know how the Beijing science top scorer 2015 emerged.

Interviewees: Liu Zhixin, a student from RDFZ and Beijing science top scorer 2015, as well as Liu Zhixin’s mother and father.
Reporters: Sun Jiangbo and Xu Wenqiao with the News Center of RDFZ.

【Rules：Honesty goes hand in hand with love, and keep self-discipline abreast of perseverance. 】

Sun Jiangbo and Xu Wenqiao (hereinafter referred to as Sun & Xu): Thank you for joining us today in this exclusive interview! Now we’d like to invite Liu Zhixin’s mother and father to share with us how you brought up Zhixin from the perspective of early impact of family education on kids’ growth.
Liu Zhixin’s mother（hereinafter referred to as Mother）：We want our kid to become a rule follower and an honest person. Based on the perception, we have set up rules ever since Zhixin’s early days, such as “Do the right thing at the right time!”Here are some examples. The first thing Zhixin would do after coming home from kindergarten was to finish her homework before she could play. Later when she was bigger, we made a deal with her before going to supermarket: She could have two items of her choice. At first, she would not observe the rule and wanted more goods. Then we followed through by taking her away. Gradually she learned to abide by the rule.
Sun & Xu: Does Zhixin’s father say yes to such a rule?
Liu Zhixin’s father（hereinafter referred to as Father）：I am on her mother’s side.  It is extremely important to set up rules for kids, the core of which is to let kids follow the rules on their own initiative instead of restricting their behaviors. Once we make a promise, we should always try to live up to our promise. It applied to everyone. 
Mother: Zhixin is quite a smart girl with high emotional intelligence. In addition, she is a girl with love and consideration for others, always seeing herself as a “sweet girl”. There is an old saying in China, “Men at their birth, are naturally good”.  My daughter is good naturally, never lies and never goes back on her word.
Zhixin was actually looked after by her grandma. When she was learning to play the piano, she found it rather boring. Then I told her that she only needed to play one piece of music five times every day, and that was what she used to do. 
Sun & Xu：Since Zhixin was actually taken care of by her grandma, did her grandma play a supervisory role?
Mother: At the very beginning, her grandma kind of supervised her and later Zhixin did things willingly. Some parents came and told me that their kids played the piano only two or three times for each session. But my kid did play five times every time of her own free will. Once outside seeing her father throwing a piece of waste paper on the ground, she picked it up immediately and told her father not to litter again. Such examples could go on and on. We feel that we learn from our daughter from time to time, who displays something pure and good deep down.
She pays special attention to behaviors in public. When we speak in a loud voice in the public place, she will remind us. She is considerate and always takes others’ feelings into account. Ever since Senior One, she had been tasked with the duty of passing homework on to all classmates everyday by putting it on the web and then texting, later through WeChat Friends Circle. She did this on a daily basis for three years until graduation. We would not lie that it is no easy task even for us adults.
Sun & Xu：We get the sense that she follows the rule of regarding others’ businesses as her own.
Mother: Exactly! Liu Zhixin can actually remember every classmate’s birthday and never fails to send good wishes to them in time. Once during a student film festival, there was a little girl staying up very late doing editing. Zhixin brought breakfast over to school for the girl without anybody telling her to do so. As class monitor for three years, my daughter is called “village head” by her class. (to her daughter) will you explain to them the origin of the nickname?
Liu Zhixin: Here is the thing. The nickname came from a politics class where our politics teacher compared a class to a village. Consequently a class monitor is sort of like a village head, hence the nickname.
Sun & Xu: Previously your mother talked about rules. So we can see that your mother has played a very important role in helping Zhixin form the habit of complying with rules. Now a question for Zhixin: we want to know what kind of influence it has exerted on you and when you began to realize the importance of being a rule follower？
Liu Zhixin: Well, I could not remember the exact time, for it is a gradual process to learn to observe rules. What I do know is that before I do anything, I will first ask myself whether it is right or not to do it. If it concerns others, I will put myself in other’s shoes，which is beneficial to myself and others as well.
Sun & Xu: Now I wonder if you could list two or three rules of the greatest importance in your life?
Liu Zhixin: In the first place, I would say honesty, which my mother has touched upon previously. Even for a white lie, one needs to explain it afterwards. In the second place, always put oneself in others’ shoes and take into consideration how others might feel.

【Harmonious family atmosphere: Sweet dining table and encouraging words.】

Sun & Xu: Zhixin’s mother just now talked about a view, which was highly echoed by Zhixin’s father. And that gives me the feeling that you have a harmonious family with shared views, values and ideas. Would you two go into details in this aspect?
Mother: We always want to become friends of my kid, never attempting to force her to accept our opinions or ideas. My girl actually shares whatever is on her mind with me.
For example. I once watched a TV program about an angry kid who got into a fight with her family, ran away from home and ended up being abducted by some human traffickers. I told Zhixin what had happened to the kid---possibly never having the chance to be reunited with her family again! Whatever conflicts there might be between parents and kids, parents love their kids at heart will protect them all the time. I often talk to her about what is happening around so that Zhixin could realize that communication is of vital importance among family members. According to my understanding, in parent-child relationships, it's the parents who have a bigger responsibility to create trust. We have been trying to build trust since her early days so my kid feels comfortable talking to us about anything that bothers her.
A little bit timid with hardly any adventures, Zhixin is well-behaved and a “sweet girl”.
It is our practice to discuss family matters together and share what is on our minds with the kid, who in her turn is willing to let us know her inner feelings or what is happening in school. I appreciate my kid coming to me with certain problems that she couldn’t figure out by herself, for a different perspective from me might be helpful in shedding light on a tough problem.
Sun & Xu: So this is how we get from your sharing---firstly, parents and their kids try to communicate the way friends do; secondly, all family members are in the habit of sitting down and discussing family matters together. Do you actually exchange ideas every day?
The family(with one accord)： That is exactly what we do during dinner time!
Father: Another aspect.  Our child has been growing up with encouragement from us. We love her just by encouraging her.
Mother: A good child comes from praises, which is absolutely true.
Sun & Xu: So the third rule is encouragement. Would you please go into more details in this aspect?
Father: We will praise her for every tiny improvement she has made. If she ever comes across any setbacks, we will tell her that they are just small steps in the long process of growth and even necessary parts of her life.
Mother： What we never do is comparing the weak points of my kid with the strong points of other kids. We have never done that.
Father： We never say words like “the neighbor’s kid is so good, and look at you!”
Mother: we never say that you are not as good as others. Sometimes, we say that this is indeed not your strength.
She began to read newspaper for her class in kindergarten when she was 3, acting like a small teacher. She studied English and took first place in a spoken English competition. She did pretty well in a number of variety shows. But she couldn’t ride a bike. 
Sun & Xu: To my knowledge, she participated in the school’s annual Musical Carnival twice.
Liu Zhixin: I was voted out during the preliminary round the first year.(laughing)
Sun & Xu: Then why did participate again the following year despite the elimination?
Liu Zhixin: It is just about using this occasion to demonstrate my talent together with my friends. And we love singing. I performed quite well and even secured the qualification of participating in the semi- final.
Sun & Xu: Just now we touched upon the topic of a harmonious“family atmosphere”. Is a harmonious“family atmosphere”very helpful in fostering a gentle soul in children?
Liu Zhixin: Yes, that is true. And I have realized that my mom and dad have influenced me tremendously in terms of values.
 Sun & Xu: I wonder if your dad and mom ever had any differences or conflicts?
Liu Zhixin: Sometimes they have different ideas about certain issues and they quarrel, but they never quarreled furiously. And don’t forget I act as a mediator between them. (laughing)
Father： Indeed, we never got into fight.
Mother: There was a teacher back in her junior school days who raised a question: what kind of role do you usually play when your father and mother get into fight?　 Realizing that her mom and dad never got into fight, Zhixin said nothing, which surprised her classmates. Sometimes my daughter will come to me and give me some encouraging words such as “Dad does that for your good” when I am mad. See, she is really a good mediator between us.
Sun & Xu: Are there any occasions when you two would rather make further communication about certain issues in the absence of your daughter?
Father and Mother: That doesn’t happen very often. Parents sometimes have things they keep from their kids. If a matter concerns others or it is not suitable for her age, we will talk about it in the car when my daughter is not with us. "
Mother: Usually we don’t discuss matters having nothing to do with her. What we discuss are things related to our family, to maternal grandma and grandpa, paternal grandma and grandpa and to our relatives.
Sun &Xu: Yes, we get the feeling that you get along very well with maternal grandma and grandpa, paternal grandma and grandpa.
Mother:  Exactly. Zhixin was actually looked after by her paternal grandma and grandpa until she was a fifth-grader.
Father: She loves her paternal grandma and grandpa, who are thrilled by her wonderful performance in the gaokao.
Mother: Her paternal grandma and grandpa had kept her company here in Beijing until she finished gaokao exam.
Sun &Xu: Is there any possibility that you two get so busy in your work sometimes that you ignore your kid’s needs?
Mother：Yes, there are such occasions. But my daughter is such an understanding girl.
Father： We feel relieved when my father and mother are here with us. But if they return to their hometown, we must make sure that my kid has us around her.
Mother：Usually we don’t go on a business trip at the same time. There was just one occasion when we had to set up sleepover for her in one of her classmate’s home because both of my husband and I happened to be on a business trip. Generally speaking, we will make proper arrangements beforehand to make sure that one of us is at home with our daughter.
Sun &Xu: Now we want to talk about habits which are believed to have a subtle influence upon one’s life. Would you please elaborate on this aspect?
Mother：Do the right thing at the right time.  Study when you are supposed to study. Play to your heart’s content after you finish your homework. This is what Zhixin did even during the last year of her high school. That she was relaxed even worried her grandma, who came to me with her confusion. She even slept in at the make-or-break time for millions of high school students (laughing).
Liu Zhixin: Who slept in? (laughing)
Mother: I am so proud that my daughter has learned how to enjoy study and most of all, enjoy life. That is very typical of her.

【Parent-child communication: Exchange on an equal footing and get along happily】

Liu Zhixin: I think there is another principle---communication, which means to talk about anything, being it sad or happy, with parents, to exchange ideas with your classmates on issues concerning our class, and to discuss with your friends to reduce misunderstandings.
Sun & Xu: We get it. You and your parents have very smooth communication together. And it is acknowledged by all of us that there is still smooth communication in spite of unavoidable quarrels. When you three are exchanging ideas, you act like real friends.
Father: We have been trying to interact the way friends do!
Mother：I often say to my daughter that I very much appreciate you opening up to me about anything. I have been down the road and might offer her some advice. So naturally we have small and casual talks on our way home from school.
Sun & Xu: What positive impact will such small and casual talks have on your life?
Liu Zhixin: I sense such casual talks are sort of like mini classes in which I can learn a great deal I have not gone through in my real life from my mom and dad. If my mom and dad hadn’t talked with me, there might have been gap between us. My parents and I really have great time sharing things, jokes or simply chatting together.
Mother: Besides, we watch entertainment programs together and laugh, which is not a common practice for every family.
Sun & Xu: What if your kid does not feel like watching TV programs?
Father: We are influenced by her sometimes. And this is a way to stick around.
Mother: But if she is studying, we will not watch TV programs.
Father: She is very attentive to her studies.
Sun & Xu: When she was focusing on her studies, what would you do at home?
Mother: We don’t watch any TV programs.
Father: We will go out for a walk in park, chatting a little bit.
Mother：We just want to provide a sound learning environment for her so that she is not distracted.
Sun & Xu: We should say a very favorable family atmosphere. Now for Zhixin, what is the happiest moment in your family?
Liu Zhixin: The happiest moment in my family is dinner time when we are free to tell jokes, watch a little bit TV programs or simply have a chat while enjoying a nice meal. And it’s true. There’s nothing like chatting and eating happily with my mom and dad at the end of each day.
Mother: Yes, I believe Zhixin is a girl with high emotional intelligence, for even an ordinary dinner can expect to be turned into a wonderful moment.
Sun & Xu:  She always feels grateful to mom and dad.
Mother:  Exactly, and she is very considerate.
Father: We are on an equal footing in this family.
Mother：Communication is crucial in creating healthy parent-child relationship. Yet the prevailing problem now is that most kids tend to share everything with their friends instead of talking to their parents, which is quite worrying. It is definitely a good thing if you kids often come to you with their confusions. The last thing parents want is their kids giving them the cold shoulder, shutting the door of communication.
Sun & Xu:  That's pretty rare that parents and kids can open up and get along well on an equal footing. Many parents tend to pin their hopes on school education, but actually family serve as the first harbor for children.
Father: Family education serves as a foundation of all things.
Sun & Xu:  The stage of family education cannot be skipped because of its important effect on one’s life.  Thank you for such a thoughtful and enlightening talk!
Sun & Xu:  Behind every excellent kid stands an extraordinary family!