Children in China are compared to “little loves that swallow gold” – photo: CNA
“little darling swallows the gold”
Ms. Liu Ba, who lives in Ningbo City in China’s Zhejiang Province, said that apart from living expenses, she has invested most of the rest into her son’s education.
In July, Liu Ba’s family spent $5,500 on their 11-year-old son alone, including about $3,500 on a short school trip to Japan, more than $1,300 on after-school tutors, and the rest on travel. summer camping.
“There’s a reason babies are called gold-swallowing minions,” Ms. Liu said. scmp,
Ms. Liu said, “My husband and I dare not spend too much on other things because our salaries have not increased for many years. If there is one thing that makes us spend too much, it is our children. ‘s education.” Besides, he is currently employee in a trading company.
For many years, Beijing has taken various measures to limit the need for students to take extra lessons after school, and even in the context of austerity due to slow economic growth, the Chinese are still very aggressive in spending on education. Are. ways to cope.
They send their children on short-term study tours abroad, hire illegal private tutors, do whatever it takes to give their children an “advantage” in school.
Field trips for students are a rich service in China. Many student delegations are taken to well-known “study sites” such as Tsinghua University in Beijing or the Shanghai Astronomy Museum.
Expenses will decrease, but education will not
Education services have become the biggest “investment” in households, as people avoid the volatile real estate market and spend more cautiously on other items in the home, such as cars or furniture.
Ms. Luo, who lives in Shanghai, sends her elementary school-aged son to child care every day of the week during the summer. When the boy goes back to school, the teachers here will help him prepare for the upcoming lessons at school.
Ms. Luo said, “Competition is so fierce now. It seems like every other child is taking extra lessons, so I can’t leave my son at home doing nothing during the holidays.”
Ms. Luo also has a daughter who is in high school. She said she spent more than US$34,000 on after-school tuition alone for one year for her two children, not to mention expenses for other activities.
“The older the child is, the more it costs, as the price goes up with each grade,” Ms. Luo said.
Ms. Luo said, “We are lucky that our income hasn’t been affected too much over the years, but we also won’t blindly invest on our children. Anyway, it’s not easy to make money at this time.” , her husband runs a construction company.
Tsinghua University in Beijing is the most prestigious university in China – Photo: Henry Westheim
Ms. Bian Lu, who owns an education company in Nanjing city of Zhejiang province, said that there are some cases where students have to take leave because their parents can no longer afford it, but are dedicated to education. The traditional passion of Chinese parents has not done this. changed a lot.
“I don’t think tighter government controls on tuition will stop this trend. As I see it, the demand from urban families is very high,” Ms. Lu said.
Ms. Lu said, “The Chinese middle class, including myself, today derives its income and status from education. That’s why we firmly believe in education and hope to do the same for the next generation.” “
China is currently facing a crisis of unemployment among 16-24 year olds, which reached a record high of 21.3% in June. In August, the Chinese government announced that it would stop updating youth unemployment data.
China is one of the most expensive countries in the world to raise children, according to research published in April by the Youth Population Research Institute.
Specifically, the cost of child-rearing here until the age of 18 is 6.9 times higher than per capita GDP, twice the cost of child-rearing in Germany and three times higher than in France.
