A woman in China stuck a fluorescent light through her ponytail to keep studying when the university lights went out, and the photo has become a viral symbol for hard work

• An unnamed woman has become China's new symbol of hard work.
• A clip of her studying with her ponytail coiled around a fluorescent light circulated on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

A female student in China has inadvertently become the nation's new viral symbol for hard work.

In a clip that circulated widely this week on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, an unnamed woman can be seen clutching what appears to be highlighted university notes and sporting a large fluorescent light stuck through her ponytail.

According to the Chinese online media outlet Sina News, the clip was posted on November 12 from a university in the northern province of Hebei. The female student was filmed by schoolmates who were studying with her late at night when the lights went out. The student borrowed a fluorescent light from a friend and coiled part of her ponytail around it to turn it into a reading light, according to Sina News.

The unnamed student was studying for the country's annual Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination, a qualifying exam for the country's Master's programs, per Sina News.

The video of the student has since turned into a trending topic on Weibo. The Weibo topic thread, akin to a subreddit, is titled "Girl studying for Master's on corridor put a light on her head to study," and has been viewed 290 million times since it was created on November 14. It also spawned some 17,000 discussion threads, with people sharing their own experiences of studying in the dark and into the wee hours of the morning while prepping for exams.

She's not the first student in China to become a viral sensation with her studying technique. Last year, an unnamed student at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University went viral after a picture of him studying on his laptop while riding a bike was uploaded to Weibo. He became a symbol of "involution," a term used to describe China's zero-sum, hyper-competitive lifestyle.

An estimated 3.77 million people applied to take the 2021 graduate program entrance examination, where they are tested on foreign languages, politics, math, and general knowledge. The exam is slated to take place in mid- December.