In three lawsuits filed last month in Beijing, Educational Testing Services, based in Princeton, N.J., has filed suit in a Beijing court, claiming New Oriental sold pirated copies of old tests, which are copyrighted. Company agents, it alleges, searched for questions still used on exams. The school's headmaster, however, denies stealing tests, but acknowledges that his teachers made copies of old tests that students obtained. He told The Washington Post that bootlegged exams are widely available in China, and blamed ETS for not making its preparation materials more available there. The lawsuit has kicked up a storm in Chinese media and academic circles.
Tests are serious business in China, and only a lucky few obtain coveted places at a university.
A degree from a U.S., Canadian or British university can multiply a Chinese job-seeker's earning power by 10 to 20 times. Getting there takes more than China's memorization-based educational system can offer. New Oriental was started in 1993 by Michael Yu, a graduate of Beijing University. These are new concepts for Chinese students. The formula has been so successful, Xu claims, that New Oriental accounts for more than half of all Chinese now studying in the United States.