<Sorry I am commuting and I am typing this on my iPhone, so excuse for formatting and writing errors>

Oh very very very very common. I am being serious here. I can only vouch for HK and mainland China since I am familiar with them (I was born and raised in HK foe the first twelves years of my life). Since I left HK in 2003, the competitiveness is driving students hopeless. Since 2015, September 1 (first day of school), 74 students have committed suicide, many were just elementary school students. [1]

“贏在起跑線” is a popular phrase in HK, which means “win with a head start”. After primary school (elementary school), students can graduate into its primary school’s linked/sibling secondary (middle school) under the 一條龍學校 “through-train” policy without going through a lottery system. As you can guess, “through-train” [2] schools are extremely popular (many are considered the elite schools in HK), so popular they require interview for admission. For better chance, these little kids need to speak English, know a sport or two, and perhaps play an instrument. Parents also have to make themselves “good”, and perhaps will move the family close to the school for the zone bonus point (going to catholic school as catholic gets an extra point).

You think that’s insane? For the next 16, 17 years these poor kids will have multiple extracurricular classes (some reported they have ten...). Playtime is pretty much non-existent. Parents pay thousands of dollars to get their kids to join a NASA summer program, or go on a Japan/Korea summer exchange program.

That’s not it. More comprehensive exams all the way till high school. The final exam, known as DSE [3] is required for university admission. For the elite world renown schools: University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Polytechnic University of HK, you must have be the best, especially for engineering and science majors. To get into the medical program, oh, you need to be the best of the best of the best.... since not everyone will be admitted a university, students still have to compete for getting into a college for an associate degree program (I believe like UK, since HK education system was created based on UK’s, college and university are not synonym in HK). But seriously, getting into high education is just tough both academically and financially. Without a scholarship, most families will end up in a big debt (HK’s income equality is really bad.)

About a year ago or so, on a reality show, a mom said because one of the best kindergartens in her district would accept ten students born in January, so she had to coordinate with her husband when to have unprotected sex so that her child could become a January baby. This anecdotal created the phase “贏在射精前”, basically means to give your child advantage over others, you as parents now have to plan before getting pregnant (or in the literal term above, before ejaculation”. [4]

The truth is parents in the western countries are also beginning to plan ahead, since research suggests that playing music during pregnancy can help brain development in the unborn child. In Chinese, we called this phenomenon 贏在子宮裡（head start inside the womb).

What I have just told you is beyond tiger mom. It’s basically living in ancient Sparta. I am just happy I moved to US so I could avoid all the above. I did end up winning the lottery, and got admitted into a “specialized” secondary school with emphasis on English-based teaching (most core classes are taught in English rather in Cantonese).

[1]: http://m.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2049167/pr...

[2]: http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/applic...

[3]: http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2085360/dse-exam...

[4]: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1980857/...