Children go to primary school, beginning at age 7, for 6 years. Then they go to middle or junior high school for 3 years and high school for 3 years. At the end of each level they must pass an examination to move to the next level. Also, you lose face if you fail the examination at any level, and it is a dishonor to your parents. Consequently, parents put much pressure on children to do their work and succeed.
Little time is left for play.
In addition, parents follow up by going to school 2-3 times per semester to talk with teachers. Pressure is so high that one problem mentioned was a serious problem with suicide after failing an examination - even among children at the primary level. The test for the end of primary school is developed by the local education bureau, in this case Suzhou Education Bureau. The test for middle school is developed by the provincial education bureau. This sounds very similar to our civics instruction at the younger grade levels.