It’s the exam season, once again. With the National University Examinations in China taking place these days, the Ministry of Education’s really serious about anyone using the Interwebs to cheat.

A bit of heavy-handed officialspeak: the official People’s Daily, in a June 6, 2010 article, threatened those who cheat with a record on their credit report. If you cheat, you’re it. There’ll also be a full crackdown, both on the Web, and via short message services, of anyone who will e-cheat.

Cheating in exams in China is taking on more and more FBI-esque approaches, it seems. Cheat notes, both written and even digital (such as wireless “stick-on-your-ears” receivers), are not new, and they’re caught, year in, year out. The fact that there’s only space for 9.57 million in universities this year (that’s 650,000 less than on offer last year) in a nation of 1.3 billion has prompted many to be “creative” about getting into university, very much the only way out for many a child — especially those of poor rural farmers. The English language is at a loss to describe the inhumane pressure exerted upon many a candidate in the months and even years leading up to the exams. Fat boys have underwent forced slimming — and if Chinese universities are full of students with glasses (often indicative of a “good student”), that’s a sign that they’ve spent more than enough time preparing for the exams (preparations go into the wee hours, day in, day out).