In Leiyang, Hunan province, three students were caught for allegedly using special earplugs to receive answers sent out by accomplices outside the exam hall on June 8.

The patrolling vans had traced the signals from the exam hall to a nearby hotel room. The case is still under investigation.

Zhang Jihai, an official in charge of exam discipline at the Hunan Exam Authority, said the results of the exam in Leiyang will not be canceled because it will be unfair for other candidates to take another exam again only because of the three who had cheated.

In Weixin of Yunnan province, a mother was caught for helping her daughter cheat in the exam. The woman, surnamed Wei, was found sending exam answers using a wireless device at a home near where her 17-year-old daughter was taking the exam.

More than 10 million students sat for the college entrance exams earlier this month to compete for about 6 million places in universities throughout the country, ministry figures showed.

The exam results are scheduled to be released in a month.

An exam information website, gaokao.sina.com.cn, was launched recently by news portal Sina.com to help students search for related material and prepare for university applications.

(China Daily June 19, 2008)