FUZHOU, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Four days after the national college entrance exams concluded in China, 4,681 candidates delayed by floods in southeastern Fujian province started their makeup exams Tuesday.

The exams in Jian'ou City marked the first time that the country have had to arrange for delayed exams for so large a group of candidates for college entrance, which is seen as a major, if not the sole, channel, for young people, especially rural children, to change their life.

Storms pummeling Fujian since late May have claimed 25 lives and left hundreds of thousands homeless, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Jian'ou had been hit by rainstorms since June 4 and two thirds of its downtown areas were flooded on June 6, just one day before the national college entrance exams, resulting in a paralysis of water and power supply, communication and traffic.

The exams in Jian'ou were then announced to be postponed after local authorities found it too dangerous for students to take the exams amid flood threats.

Students and their parents gathered at the gate of an examination venue, Jian'ou No. 1 Middle School, at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, an hour before the exam started. Ambition combined with anxiety can be read from their faces.

"I feel much better now, although it did disturb me when I knew the exams were postponed on June 7," said a girl student named Fan Qian.

More than 8.8 million candidates across the country took the national college entrance exam this year. Enditem