As these snaps show of a Chinese student shot by her roommate some people are prepared to go to hair-raising extremes in order to get good grades.
The two girls, Chen Tang, 20, and Huang Lu, 21, had been complaining about how difficult it was to keep up with all the study they were expected to do while students at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, in Fujian province, in southeast China.
While comparing various techniques for staying awake from coffee and energy drinks through to regular fresh air breaks, one of the girls mentioned two famous Chinese scholars of legend, one who had stabbed himself with needles every time he started to fall asleep and the other who would tie his hair to a beam in the ceiling so that it was pulled every time he started to nod off.
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Hair-raising revision techniques
Huang said in posting the pictures: "Chan is so keen to succeed that she decided to give the hair trick a try, as you can see her hair is more than long enough. As we didn't have a beam in our dorm, she used the clothes dryer and claims it worked really well."
According to Chen it helped to keep a clear mind and she plans to use it again to help focus.
"The preparation is so boring, but the hanging hair practice makes it interesting and I really feel much more energetic by studying in this way." said Chen.