Background
Gao was born and grew up in a house in Shaanxi Province with six siblings; his father died at the age of 40. He briefly worked in a coal mine.
With his family not being able to afford elementary school, Gao said he sat listening outside the classroom window. Later, an uncle helped him attend secondary school, after which he qualified to join the People's Liberation Army. His unit was stationed at a base in Kashgar, in Xinjiang region, and he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Later, he left the PLA and began working as a food vendor. In 1991, inspired by a newspaper article that mentioned a plan by Deng Xiaoping, then China's paramount leader, to train 150,000 new lawyers and develop the Chinese legal system, he took a course in Law. Gao credited his excellent memory of titles and clauses for passing all his exams; he passed the bar in 1995.
Read more about this topic: Gao Zhisheng
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