Chinese mainland universities havebecome the choice for an increasing number of students from Taiwan,Hong Kong and Macao.

According to a report in today's China Daily, during this year's college entrance examinations, about 55 percent of senior-school graduates in Macao applied to universities on the mainland.

A total of 1,214 Macao students sat the exam for mainland schools.

In Taiwan, 825 graduates have signed up for the mainland college entrance examination, double last year's number.

Renowned institutions including Beijing University and Qinghua University have been the top choices for students in Taiwan.

Besides Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, the paper said, more and more oversea Chinese graduates in foreign countries have also applied to mainland colleges.

This year, Jinan University in south China's Guangdong Province alone has received 3,000 applications from overseas Chinese students.

( Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2002)