Tuition fees are a harsh lesson for parents

Girls pratice dancing during summer holidays in Bozhou, Anhui province, Aug 5, 2016. [Photo by Liu Qinli/for China Daily]

Generous investment

Yu Guoming, executive director of Beijing Normal University's School of Journalism and Communication, sees the phenomenon from a perspective different from that of Xiong.

"The booming popularity of tutoring is a result of the expanding middle class in China, who believe in the power of good education in changing a person's life and are therefore eager to offer an education of high quality to their offspring," Yu said.

The Global Wealth Report 2015 released by Credit Suisse Research Institute showed that with 109 million adults, or 8 percent of the population counted as middle class, China outnumbered the United States for the first time, and this has led to changing consumption patterns.

"Education, together with housing, healthcare and travel, is on the consumption list of the Chinese middle class," Yu said. "Treating education as one of the very few channels to rise to the higher social classes, the Chinese middle class will spare no efforts in investing in their children's education."

Beijing resident Ji Qing's experience is typical. The 45-year-old has an 8-year-old daughter. To "fully exploit her talent", Ji has registered her on numerous tutorial courses - piano, dancing, singing, Peking opera, Go, Chinese classics, calligraphy, Chinese painting, English - almost any subject a child of her age is capable of learning. This started when she was just three.

The cost during the past five years has been quite high, as tuition for each subject is at least 10,000 yuan ($1,500), not to mention that the mother has also had to squeeze every minute of her time off work to send the girl to, and pick her up from, the courses.

"I have only one child and want her to lead a successful life after she grows up, so such investment and guidance is necessary" said Ji, who has quit her job as a sales manager of a company in Beijing so that she could focus on the education of her daughter. "Seeing her win awards, progress, makes me feel that what I have done is worthwhile."