The greatest irony here is that quality education, a concept designed to be an antidote to the exam-oriented system, has been interpreted, implemented and integrated into the core mentality and has been undermined at its roots. When quality educational subjects such as music theory, instrument playing and art appreciation were introduced into the school curriculum, people naturally put forward the proposal to include those subjects in the Gaokao so as to ensure that the quality educational curriculum was followed. diligently. This proposal, however, changed the essence of quality education once and for all. First, teachers began teaching subjects in the way they are most accustomed to: rote memorization, repeated practice and review, frequent tests and exams. These new subjects, originally intended to revive students' interest and passion for studying, turned out to be more burdensome for them. Students, however, also approach new subjects in the old way; they do everything to get a good score in the Gaokao exam instead of following their interest and exploring their passion. Therefore, they are still trying to memorize the rules of music theory and art appreciation; they will practice only a few pieces by Mozart or Beethoven thousands of times because they have been tested more frequently