Download Chinese parents are not afraid to dream big when it comes to their children's futures - talk of Yale, Harvard and other prestigious overseas universities can begin when the child is still in kindergarten. Many can now afford to make such dreams a reality, which has led to a boom in demand for English language training and exam preparation courses. According to the Ministry of Education's National Education Development Statistical Bulletin, the market is already worth about 30 billion yuan ($4.9 billion), and is growing at a rate of 15 percent a year. "Chinese parents lavish money on their children, and they are spending more on their education," said Ma Linjie, who has run Lyn Education, a private English training center in Shanghai, since 2010. "English training has existed for a long time, and the market is relatively stable," she said. "But one record-breaking year after another in terms of Chinese studying abroad has driven growth." Last year almost 400,000 Chinese went abroad to study, an increase of 18 percent from 2011, the Ministry of Education said. Between 1978 and the end of 2011, China sent 2.25 million students overseas, 90 percent of those after 2000, and from 2000 to 2010, annual growth was 28.2 percent. Today, China is the largest exporter of students, accounting for 14 percent of the world's total, according to a report jointly released last year by the Center for China and Globalization and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. |