China’s education system is no game of chicken—here's a linguistic guide to how to survive it
Raising children in today’s China is not for the faint of heart, and a recent popular joke about parenting in Beijing captured the anxiety perfectly:
A Beijing parent asks: “My son is 4 years old, but only knows 1,500 words in English. Is that enough?”
Wǒ de érzi jīnnián sì suì le, dànshì Yīngyǔ cíhuìliàng zhīyǒu yìqiān wǔbǎi, gòu yòng ma？
我的儿子今年四岁了，但是英语词汇量只有1500，够用吗？
Reply: “It’s good enough in America, but doubtful in Haidian.”
Zài Měiguó kěndìng gòu le, zài Hǎidiàn xuán.
在美国肯定够了，在海淀悬。
Playing Chicken With China's New Superkids is a story from our issue, “Call of the Wild.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.
Zhang Wenjie is a contributing writer at The World of Chinese. She loves to share the lifestyles, voices, and concerns of China’s Gen Z. She is also fond of collecting and displaying the flourishing slang expressions in the Chinese language.
