THE news from Guangzhou of Guangdong Province is that contraceptive pills are very popular among middle-school student girls these days. The reason has nothing to do with sex. Instead, it is the coming state college enrollment exam - on June 7, 8 and 9 - which has driven the demand.

One student who bought 20 boxes of contraceptives for her classmates said they hoped to avoid suffering from their periods while taking the pills. She said most girl students took them to delay their periods for fear they would affect exam performance. She said even teachers reminded students to take them.

"In Shanghai, we also have heard of such cases," said Cheng Weiwei, deputy president of the Changning District Health Centre for Women and Children. "Generally speaking, taking such drugs for a short period won't produce any side effects on young women and it may really help to overcome the discomfort to people suffering from dysmenorrhea. But we don't encourage student to take such drugs, it's not necessary at all."

The whole phenomenon may appear as an over-reaction to people outside the country, but for most Chinese students, the exam is the key to the quality of their future lives. If they do well, they will be able to enter high society. If not, they will be ordinary workers. Most parents educate their children to think like this.

This year, an estimated 8 million students will participate in the exam.

The state college enrollment exam is not only a big event for students, it is also a big event for the whole of society. The city tries its best to be considerate to these students, who have studied hard for years.

On June 8 last year, the Shanghai government arranged for about 2,000 police to assist the 100,000 students attending the 148 different examination sites. At every site, an extra five or six police were on duty one and a half hours in advance. Such special measures related to the event are known as "green protection for the examinations".

For this year's examinations, the city's administrative departments covering environmental protection, construction, transportation and city administration will also assist in this "green protection".

All construction sites, except those in special circumstances, should stop working from 10 pm to 6 am from May 31 to June 19. From June 7 to 9 (the exam days), construction sites less than 100 metres from examination sites are forbidden to work from 8 am to 6 pm. The period from 2:45 to 3:25 on June 8, when the listening comprehension exams for foreign languages are held, the silence is strictly enforced.

To prevent delays and guarantee student transportation, taxi reservation services will accepts reservations much earlier than usual, meaning people can reserve taxis more than one week in advance.

"At several minutes past midnight on May 26, the first day for accepting reservations for the exams, some parents had already called to reserve taxis," said an official with the Qiangsheng Taxi Company in charge of taxi reservation. Within about two days, all 3,000 taxis available from the service centre were reserved for the three exam days.

Though some schools arranged shuttle buses, some parents insist on taxis, which can accommodate parents or even grandparents wanting to deliver students in person to the spot.

"What's interesting is that some parents are very concerned about plate numbers," said the official, who was unwilling to give his name. "They don't want numbers ending with 0, 4 or 6 because they worry it will bring bad luck to their children."

In Chinese, the pronunciation of 4 - and 6 in Shanghai dialect - is similar to the word "lose" which is thought to be very inauspicious.