36-year-old wealthy businessman leaves career behind to retake university entrance exam twice

The reason behind businessman Ly Long's retaking the university entrance exam is not a midlife crisis but an 18-year-old dream that he had not yet achieved: To become a doctor.

Buy a house for parents before graduation

Li Long was born in 1989 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province - a large city in northeastern China. In 2008, among millions of candidates straining for the Gaokao, the young man surnamed Li excelled and scored 695 points.

That result put him straight into Tsinghua University - the school known as the "Harvard of China", making the young man the pride of his whole family.

At the age of 36, with tens of millions of yuan, three houses in Beijing and a successful career, Li Long surprised everyone when he retook the university entrance exam. (Photo: Baidu)

In the eyes of relatives, neighbors and friends, he is a model of a young man who changed his life through education, a living testament to the dream of "passing the Tsinghua exam, blossoming all your life" that Chinese people have passed down through generations.

But Ly Long is not the type of student who just buries his head in books. During his time studying at Tsinghua, the male student took advantage of his time as a tutor to cover his expenses and earn extra income.

While still in school, Li Long was able to earn 30,000-40,000 yuan/month (about 109-146 million VND) by tutoring and taking advantage of his reputation as a Tsinghua student. Before graduating, he bought a house for his parents in his hometown of Harbin, according to Jiupai News. This is "unimaginable" because many people who work all their lives still cannot do it.

After graduating, Ly Long did not choose a safe path such as becoming a researcher or a civil servant. He turned to the private education sector and then started his own business.

More than a decade later, Lee Long has everything society defines as success: stable finances, respectable status, and a happy marriage. He has become a real-life "other people's kid" model.

A "restart" at age 35

But what makes Ly Long special is that he decided to retake the university entrance exam at the age of 35. Not to get another degree, not because he was unemployed, but for a simple reason: He dreamed of becoming a doctor but had to put it aside because of his family's difficult circumstances.

“At that time, my family was poor. Studying medicine took a long time and was expensive, so I chose another path to quickly go to work and help my parents,” Ly Long recalled.

However, the dream of wearing a white coat never disappeared but was kept carefully for 16 years. 16 years ago, he was an excellent student majoring in Basic Science at Tsinghua University. 16 years later, he is a company owner, owns a house, a car, a happy family but chose to "start over".

Although he did not pass the 2025 Tsinghua University entrance exam as expected, Ly Long still maintained his passion for medicine and chose to study at another medical school. (Photo: Baidu)

In 2024, at the age of 35, Li Long retook the exam for the first time and scored 658 points, but was a few points short of the entrance exam to Tsinghua University's School of Medicine. Undaunted, he retook the 2025 Gaokao exam again, this time scoring more than 640 points, but still failing.

But instead of being disappointed, Ly Long calmly said: “ If I can’t get into Tsinghua, I can study at another medical school. What I pursue is medicine, not fame.”

According to Upstream News, to prepare for the exam, Ly Long spent dozens of hours every day studying. He studied early in the morning, buried himself in the Thanh Hoa library during the day, and waited until his children went to sleep at night to practice the exam questions. At an age when many people are comfortably sitting in an air-conditioned office, he focused on memorizing formulas and rereading pages of popular books.

The pressure comes not only from schoolwork but also from society's views. Many people sarcastically say: "You have so much free money!", "Why are you still competing at this age?" . But for Ly Long, this is not a game of fame but a journey to find himself.

On Chinese social media, many people expressed their admiration for Ly Long’s decision. “In a society that always uses grades, degrees, and cars to measure success, he chose to go against the flow. Not following social standards but following the calling of his heart.”

Another wrote: “He doesn’t need to prove anything anymore. Freedom is daring to live once for yourself, even if you have to start over, even if you might fail.”

Many comments say that his story is not just about an adult retaking the university entrance exam, but a reminder: Are we living for our dreams or living according to what society deems right?