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Chinese children caught between work and play

— PHOTO: Xinhua

Learning the ropes: Students perform during an International Children’s Day activity in Beijing on Friday.

BEIJING: For most Chinese children International Children’s Day, which falls on June 1, brings not only a holiday and gifts from parents but also piles of homework and extracurricular classes. Chinese children are caught between heavy work pressure and playtime, making their childhood not as carefree as that of previous generations.

Wang Wenyi is a 70-year-old retired welder in Beijing. When the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, and the Children’s Day designated in the same year, he was 10.

“At that time, trams and parks in Beijing were free for kids on Children’s Day, and we had a day off from school. I always took a tram to the Xidan downstreet and Tian’anmen square, just looking around,” said Mr. Wang.

“Kids did not have much fun in old days. It was exciting for us to take a tram,” he added.

Now he is happy to see his 11-year-old grandson having a better-off childhood. “He doesn’t care about new clothes, delicious food or toys, because he has all he wants.” Sun Ling, a public servant in Shanghai, said he would buy a bicycle for his 5-year-old daughter as a Children’s Day gift. “She is so lucky and carefree”.

Mr. Sun said during his childhood he could only play with discarded wine bottle caps, small coins and self-made wooden pistols.

Now his daughter’s toys were strewn everywhere in the house and she has more clothes than anyone else in the family. “Sometimes I even feel jealous of her,” said Mr. Sun.

For kids in the countryside, many of whose parents are migrant workers in cities, childhood is more delightful than that of their parents.

Ma Xinjiang (33) left his 6-year-old son in his hometown in Anhui Province to work as a cement worker in Beijing. His son is in a local kindergarten, and Mr. Ma often send him clothes and toys.

“His life was much better than ours. When I was a boy, I did not even know what a kindergarten was, and I just played by myself,” he said.

Mr. Wang said he spent less time with his grandson after he entered primary school. “He was much busier than a child should ever be.” “In old days, we had only two subjects in primary school, Chinese and math, not even English. But my grandson has so many courses, extra-curricular interest classes, and some other group activities,” he said.

Li Ou’meng, a student at Beijing’s Second Experimental Primary school, complained he might not have time for sound sleep on Children’s Day.

“We have performances, and we got homework, so much homework. What kind of a holiday is it when it makes us so strained?” he said.

Experts say studies have become the biggest burden for Chinese children and that it was improper to impose parents’ expectations and values on children at an early age.

“It will deprive them of their childhood to make early arrangements for future education — and it goes against their recognition and development,” said Zhou Xiaolin, a psychology professor from Peking University.

Many parents see entering a top university as the basis for finding a decent job and living a comfortable life in the future. Zhu Liqi, a professor at the Institute of Psychology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), described the competition as “a war without gun smoke.” “They learn more, they know more, they are smarter, but not necessarily happier,” said Mr. Zhu.

The battle begins when children are still in kindergarten, when parents send their four or five-year-old kids to various interest classes.

Xin Wei, a five-and-a-half-year-old boy from Beijing’s Happy Times Kindergarten, has music, painting, English and table tennis courses every week after school.

Xin’s mother, Huo Na, said all these courses were up to his will. “We once took him to an arithmetic class when he was four, but the homework was demanding and we got tired, so we quit it soon,” she said.

“I like singing and dancing, and other courses are interesting, too. I am also proud of my fluent English,” said Xin. Xin even held his first painting exhibition on his fifth birthday. With his mother’s help, he posted his paintings on the walls of the kindergarten and acted as a guide, explaining the paintings to his classmates. “We do everything to make him feel confident, so that he will be mentally prepared for future challenges,” said Ms. Huo.

Experts agreed that children’s success depends more on social abilities, especially on communication and emotion control, as they bear much more pressure than children decades ago. — Xinhua

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