Chinese-style education leaves people, especially the Chinese, with mixed feelings. As the true meaning of education lies beyond a piece of paper, a mode of education that neglects its actual purpose may in the end not bear any fruits. During a child’s growth, a sound personality and the ability of self-study is probably the best reward it can obtain from its education. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]. 

On Aug. 31, 2009, students walking out of the Junru Primary School in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, after the new semester’s registration process, are surrounded by their parents waiting outside. Every student carries the hopes of the family, with each step he or she takes, from birth to school, infused with their parents’ painstaking efforts. Lest their children lose in the starting line, the parents deem the education the most significant issue in their lives. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

A teacher corrects a student’s pronunciation of the letter “o” inside a classroom of Junru Primary School on Aug. 11, 2009. Before the start of school, a great many primary schools had already opened their preschool departments for the purpose of adjusting the students to school life in advance. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]. 

On Sep. 1, 2009, the first day of the new semester, many parents are waiting outside the first grade’s classrooms of Lantian Primary School, a school for migrant workers’ children. Their eyes meticulously follow each and every move of their children. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi] 

Students at the Jiaxing Elementary Primary School, Zhejiang, dressed in the traditional Chinese Hanfu clothing, follow their teacher to recite the Chinese classics, such as the Three-Character Classic and the Standards for Students, on Mar. 17, 2010. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi].

On July 12, 2010, outside the classrooms of the preschool in Jiaxing Youth Palace, Zhejiang, parents keep a close watch on their children through the windows. Each and every move of the children can affect their parents’ mood. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

The students’ pencils are sharpened by their accompanying parents. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

On July 17, 2010, children are not seen relaxing during their summer vacation. Virtually all parents expected their children to develop a specialty, which contributes to the popularity of taking up traditional instruments. A girl is spotted learning how to play the cucurbit flute. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

On Aug. 16, 2010, a student is seen dozing off during a summer class with the “Standards for Students” booklet clutched in his hands. Children’s lives are often overtaken by various training classes during their holidays. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

On July 28, 2010, the ophthalmic clinic at Jiaxing TCM hospital, Zhejiang, sees crowds gathered in every corner because a great many children were taken there for eye examination. Since the beginning of the summer vacation, the clinic has examined the eyes of hundreds of students every day. The major reasons for fading eyesight and ophthalmic diseases are the long hours spent on watching TV, working on the computer and playing video games. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

While children in urban areas are worn out with various training classes, rural students have to fight for their dreams. In 2009, some students are seen taking a training course at a youth sports school in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. Virtually all of them are the second generation of farmers, for whom the sports training might be a good opportunity to alter their fates. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

Xiao Qing, a 15-year-old girl from Boyang County, Jiangxi Province, is painting at a food market in Haining New District, Zhejiang, on Feb. 11, 2011. In the case of freezing cold, she has to occasionally blow on her frostbitten hands. In order to enrich her life during winter vacation, Xiao Qing decided to simply draw in the streets. Though her paintings do tend to attract a crowd, these usually consist of mere onlookers, not buyers. She believes that one more painting can lead to one more opportunity for progress. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

Yuan Yingying, a six-grade student at Lantian Primary School, a school mainly built for the education of migrant workers’ children, is conscientiously doing her homework sitting on an electro-tricycle outside a rental house in South Lake District, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province on Jan. 12, 2013. The girl, whose father is a construction worker, came from Xinyang, Henan Province. Due to limited time and space, Yuan had to finish her homework sitting on the tricycle after school hours. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

Wang Haodong, a student from Lantian Primary School, is fully concentrated on his homework whilst sitting on a motorbike parked in front of a waste disposal station under the Jiaxing Bridge on Oct. 26, 2008. He was born in Chengdu and his mother was a janitor. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi]

Students were taking their PE exam in the No.1 Elementary Junior School on Apr. 15, 2009. Their anxious teacher can be seen sparing no effort to voice his support to those who get behind in the 1000-meter race. The exam, requiring a lot of stamina, turned out to be a stressed and overpowering one, foregoing its original goal of enhancing students’ physical health. [Photo/Chu Yongzhi].