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Five days of study in Beijing cost nearly 10,000 yuan, two weeks of overseas study cost 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, and sky-high study camps have become one of the biggest expenses for the middle class to "return to poverty during the summer vacation." Studying in big factories, dreaming in Tsinghua and Peking University, sailing in Hainan, Qingdao, Thailand, exploring the Arctic in Egypt... Chinese children have already set foot on five continents.

Halfway through the summer vacation, the first batch of participants in the research camp have returned. Some people complained, and some even started to defend their rights: I signed up for a sailing research camp, but the water was right up to my ankles. I spent nearly 10,000 yuan to go to Beijing, but I could only take photos at the gates of Tsinghua and Peking University. Some people sent their children to study abroad, but they came back with "crooked" necks - because they played games in the same posture.

At a time when consumption is generally downgrading, the study tour market is growing against the trend. Middle-class parents who “don’t want their children to lose at the starting line” have become the last batch of “leeks”.

Text |Han Ruixue

Editor |Zhang Qingsong

Operations |Puffs

Start by defending your rights

Before his son's study tour was over, Zhang Huan and other parents were already defending their rights in the group. The 6,000 yuan 5-day, 4-night Qingdao Sports Exploration Camp was not a sky-high price, but the experience was poor. It was said to be a full sports course of surfing, paddle boarding, cycling, and rock climbing, but in the end, each one was just a passing fad.

First of all, the itinerary arrangement was not cost-effective. We got up at 7 o'clock in the morning and arrived at the cycling site at 9 o'clock. As a result, we talked about theory for two hours and the whole morning was gone. Parents signed up for the outdoor "release" but did not expect that they would just change the place to keep their children.

The main feature of the sports camp is surfing. Parents thought that the ratio of coach to child was about 1:2, and the children went into the sea together. In the end, it seemed that there was only one coach. The children went up to take pictures one by one, and then the next one was replaced after taking a picture. "It was really an experience." The surfing conditions were not good. The waves were very shallow, and the water was at the ankle level, so it was impossible to surf. A parent from Guangzhou complained: "We don't have to go from Guangzhou to play in the sand."

The rock climbing project was not satisfactory either, less than an hour, indoors, and without even a safety rope. What Zhang Huan was most concerned about was the poor food, three meals for children, sports-based activities, and even no milk... "It's very different from the publicity", "Is this camp just a random one? You don't want to reap the benefits once and for all?" Parents complained in the group, and the organizers said nothing.

Judging from the complaints of parents, the original sin of the research camp is that it is not worthy of its name. The poor experience of the research group is another major complaint.

According to the Weibo of "Eastern Finance", on August 5, some netizens revealed that the Dunhuang study tour organized by New Oriental Culture and Tourism had poor treatment: the 8-day and 7-night tour cost over 10,000 yuan, not including the round-trip transportation costs, but the children complained about the tiring trip, the poor hotel conditions, and the confiscation of communication equipment. "One child fell asleep, but was woken up by the battalion commander."

"Please don't come here for study tours." As soon as summer vacation arrives, Beijing welcomes study tours from all over the country. Beijing residents living near tourist attractions will see this scene: a group of tired children are walking all the way under the scorching sun at 36 or 37 degrees, sweat pouring down like they are washing their faces; they eat cheap boxed lunches, sit on the floor if there are no seats, and lie down directly if they are too tired; the teacher leads the team in the high temperature, has a bad temper, yells at the children, and even leads everyone to rush around regardless of traffic rules; the only serious part of the whole activity is taking pictures, and the children listen to instructions and are manipulated to leave receipts.

Peking University and Tsinghua University are the worst-hit areas for research and study. Last year, a student broke the news to the Henan TV station "Xiao Li Help" that the propaganda of the research and study group was seriously inconsistent with the facts, because the two universities were not open to commercial research and study groups. The children could only take photos and check in at the door. They stayed in the suburbs. Some rooms were temporarily built, the roof was still under renovation, the air conditioning was not effective, some children had to sleep on the floor, could not eat on time, and were even beaten by instructors. As part-time teachers in the research and study group, they not only have to share their own inspirational stories, learning methods, introduce Peking University, and "plant the dream of a prestigious school" for the children, but also be responsible for the food and daily life of all the children. They simply do not have the energy to have "one-on-one in-depth communication" with the students.

This year, when people passed by the gate of Tsinghua University, they still saw the following scene: Under the scorching heat, the children who spent nearly 10,000 yuan to come to Beijing for research and study lined up in front of the stone with the school motto "Self-improvement and Virtue". The people whose turn it was had put on wrinkled bachelor's gowns in advance, and immediately took them off and handed them to the children behind them after taking photos, like an assembly line...

Overseas study camps often cost from 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, but they are still full of complaints.

Netizen "ある日" shared on Xiaohongshu that he was a tour guide at the Auckland Museum in New Zealand. It happened to be the summer vacation for children in China in July and August, and he received many primary and secondary school study tour groups. He felt that the children were "tired": the fourth and fifth grade children were taken directly from the airport to the museum after landing from Shanghai. It is autumn and winter in the southern hemisphere now, and many children are still wearing summer clothes. They don't even have time to change clothes without their luggage. After a long flight, they were so sleepy when they arrived at the museum. Although the children tried hard to see the exhibition, they had to squat and sit after walking a few steps. "At the end of the Maori performance, they basically started to catch up on sleep as soon as they got their seats."

On social media platforms, many overseas Chinese also shared their own experiences of the study tour craze: Boston is the region with the best educational resources in the United States. This summer, Chinese children make up "at least one-third" of the study tour groups. Even parking lots have Chinese signs. The lawns of Oxford and Cambridge universities are also filled with Chinese primary school students posing for photos...

Some people complained that children who went on overseas study tours were like wild horses that ran away from their parents, swearing, browsing their phones, playing games, and making a lot of noise. Blue Whale News reported that some children came back from overseas study tours with crooked necks because they played games in the same posture.

The cost of “learning more”

As consumption downgrades, the middle class cuts spending, but study abroad becomes increasingly popular.

Some media have described study tours as gradually becoming a middle-class scam. Even so, it is difficult to stop the enthusiasm of parents. Ctrip's "2024 Summer Tourism Market Forecast Report" shows that this summer, parent-child study tour products are still very popular, with orders for related products increasing by 70% year-on-year, and prices basically the same as last year.

After the epidemic, under the "double reduction" policy, as "education and training" cooled down, the original intention of middle-class parents to let their children increase their experience and broaden their horizons during the summer vacation gave rise to the booming study tour market. Various high-priced study tours followed one after another, and some schools even launched summer study tour programs.

As a media person, Zhang Huan had heard about the high-priced study camps a long time ago. But when she actually considered signing up her child for a tour this summer, she was still shocked: more than 9,000 yuan, not including round-trip air tickets; outbound travel to Egypt was 30,000 yuan, Croatia was 30,000 yuan, "a family of three, plus transportation costs, it's over 100,000 yuan"; if some theme activities are added, such as English speeches, drama performances, or attending foreign schools, the tour price will double. Although as a senior executive in a first-tier city, she can afford this expense, she still feels it is too painful, "mainly because I think it's not worth it, it's an IQ tax."

She still considered enrolling her child in a study tour because she wanted her child to have more experiences during the summer vacation. Her parents were both working, and the child could only stay at home, playing with their phones and eating takeout. It would be better for them to go out and play with their peers, at least to exercise and prevent myopia. When she checked the similar niche sports clubs in China, the prices were shocking: Taishan Kayak Sports Camp, 7 days cost 20,000 yuan. After comparing many options, she chose this "cost-effective" group with rich categories and a price of 6,000 yuan, but she still fell into the trap.

In the eyes of people in the industry, "study tours" are a variation of travel groups. Compared with senior groups, they use "low prices" to attract customers and then trick them into buying local specialties to get commissions. Study tours that focus on educational value will make enough gimmicks from the beginning to make parents willingly pay the high group fee.

In 2023, the reporter of "First Financial Daily" learned through questionnaire surveys and front-line interviews that the price of study tours is 2 to 3 times that of ordinary tour groups, and the gross profit is 20% to 50% higher. On Xiaohongshu, there are also industry insiders who provide quotation strategies for study tours, suggesting that the price of various activities should be twice the cost to ensure a profit margin of at least 40%.

In order to get parents to spend money, "study tours" desperately try to increase "added value". For Chinese parents, the ultimate "value" is to learn something that can actually help their future growth.

In addition to visiting famous schools at home and abroad, overseas "transfer student" study programs that focus on immersive experience have also been very popular in recent years. The fee for two weeks is as high as 40,000 to 70,000 yuan, not including visa fees and round-trip air tickets, and reservations must be made three or four months in advance. Wang Li, a mother from Taiyuan, saw a seven-day study camp for a famous school in Boston, USA, on Douyin and wanted to sign up. The other party reminded her that the itinerary was full and it was too late. They suggested that her family "go to Europe first, apply for a visa, and then apply for a US visa." The fastest way is to "apply in the fall, get a visa in the winter, and go next summer."

In order to make parents feel that the tour is worth the money and that they can learn something, some tour groups even give children "homework". Netizen "ある日" complained that some study tour groups designed thick travel manuals for children, and they had to answer questions after the tour. "The time that could have been spent on free activities was wasted on doing such boring homework."

In addition to this kind of "famous school tour" that takes a quick look, the cost of studying to prepare for "Ivy League" is even higher. Chen Qi, a 16-year-old high school sophomore from Guangdong, applied for the summer school of Carnegie Mellon University in the United States this year. The tuition fee for 6 weeks is 10,000 US dollars. He can take university courses in advance and accumulate credits. After a while, he felt a little tired. After all, the course of a semester was compressed into one month, and the study intensity was not small. Although there were gains, "the price was really expensive." Intermediary sources revealed that the study abroad agency can quote 15,000 to 20,000 US dollars for such "cultivating international vision and feeling the charm of top academics" research.

Broadening one's horizons is the pain point that the study tour groups are targeting for parents, and this "broadening one's horizons" is best seen and tangible.

The study tours at large factories that have become popular in the past two years have been jokingly called by netizens "experiencing the life of a social animal at your own expense 20 years in advance." Go to Internet companies to see the development of robots and AI technology, visit modern production lines at manufacturing companies, eat in factory canteens, visit factory welfare, and plan ahead for working in large factories after graduation. Artificial intelligence company iFlytek disclosed in January this year that since the official launch of the AI ​​Study Tour Camp in January 2023, it has attracted nearly 65,000 primary and secondary school students to participate.

There is also research and study that is directly linked to "professional planning".

Zhang Xuefeng, a famous teacher who teaches college entrance examination planning, launched a study camp for the first time this year. The 6-day, 5-night "Fengxing Wanli Elite Study Camp (Suzhou)" was priced at 9,999 yuan (later adjusted to 8,999 yuan) and was sold out. In Zhang Xuefeng's words, it is to help second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-tier children go to big cities to expand their horizons: "Know what kind of university the adults want you to go to, what kind of job it is to find a good job. In the future, when you travel or stay in a hotel on business trips, what is a good hotel, turn passivity into initiative, and study hard..."

The itinerary included visits to famous local companies in Suzhou, visits to famous schools, and tours of well-known attractions. What really set the group apart from other groups was the "in-depth exchanges" with the 985 high-school teachers from Zhang Xuefeng's team.

For families with better financial conditions, the imaginary boundaries of "broadening horizons" seem to be greater.

In Beijing Haidian, where education is the most competitive, some schools have organized their own expeditions to the Arctic. The registration notice "Registration for 2024 Arctic Research, Let's Go to the Polar Regions Together!" released by Beijing Haidian Tsinghua Affiliated High School Daoxianghu School shows that students interested in botany, zoology, glaciology, and geology can sign up. The cheapest research ship type is 83,000 yuan, and the most expensive is 185,000 yuan. Anyone over 4 years old can sign up and can obtain an "Arctic Expedition Certificate."

Some people do go to such expensive tours. Kelly from Shanghai said that her goddaughter once went to the Arctic for a study tour, and the total cost was about 130,000 yuan. In comparison, her twin daughters' 5-day, 4-night Guizhou charity summer camp cost only 8,000 yuan, which is not expensive.

Who is doing research business?

The middle class has returned to basics in terms of material consumption, but is gritting their teeth and spending huge amounts of money on their children’s education, turning “study tours” into a multi-billion dollar market and a good business.

According to Tianyancha Professional Edition data, as of now, there are more than 29,000 research-related companies. In terms of establishment time, 49.4% of the companies were established within 1 to 5 years. As for the judgment of this market size, iiMedia Research data shows that the market size of China's research-based tourism industry will reach 90.9 billion yuan in 2022; in 2023, there will be more than 1,600 research-based practice education bases for primary and secondary school students nationwide, and the market size may reach 146.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61.6%, and it is expected to reach 242.2 billion yuan in 2026.

The middle class who don’t want their children to lose at the starting line have become the target of many study tours. The study tours on the market are mixed, ranging from cultural and tourism business lines of large companies to small workshops with one or two people. The recruitment titles on social networks are "After sending my daughter to study, the gears of fate began to turn" and "Child, you don’t have to feel guilty about the 40,000 yuan study tour fee."

New Oriental's third quarter financial report for 2024 shows that the newly launched cultural tourism business line has carried out study tours and research camps in more than 50 cities across the country, and the top 10 cities in China have contributed more than 55% of the revenue to this business. Search for "research" on Douyin, and you can see the live broadcast rooms of New Oriental Cultural Tourism in various places promoting research projects on the homepage.

Some traditional travel agencies can also turn tourism products into "study tours" in seconds by adding experience projects. Taking Xi'an, a popular tourist city, as an example, searching on platforms such as Qunar shows that a 5-day, 4-night tour for 16 people costs about 2,200 yuan, and attractions include the Terracotta Warriors, Huaqing Palace, Muslim Street, museums, Hukou Waterfall, etc.; some study tour institutions arrange shadow puppetry, Terracotta Warriors coloring, script-killing, Hanfu makeup and other experience projects in the same time, and the total price reaches 5,980 yuan.

The price of overseas transfer students is the highest, but it is becoming more and more popular. Some overseas Chinese have also started to provide transfer study services. "Happy on the way", a blogger of Xiaohongshu who settled in New Zealand and used to work in a school, told us that some schools in New Zealand will open places for overseas transfer students. The places are limited and very popular every year, so there is a situation that you need to apply half a year in advance. Transfer places can be applied by individuals, but there are information barriers for domestic parents, so the intermediary will help contact the places, arrange accommodation and routes, and form a "study group". "It seems that a month of micro-study abroad costs 60,000 to 70,000, but the bulk of it is accommodation and tuition fees, and the intermediary earns service fees."

In order to increase the premium, it is an open secret in the industry to invite big names to be mentors. Intangible cultural heritage inheritors, university professors, cultural and museum experts, and researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have all been invited by research institutions to be mentors. Gao Shen, a domestic expert in ancient architecture research and a scholar of history and culture, told Daily People that he leads an event for half a day, usually 2-3 hours, and quotes 2,500-3,000 yuan. "If it is a university professor or a well-known person, it may be 4,000 to 5,000, 5,000 to 6,000 yuan, there is no standard."

He once met a group of seven or eight-year-old children who came to study at the Beijing Public Transport Museum. The lecturer was indeed very professional. "I guess there were few people present who could understand many of the terms and terms except me." The children looked confused. The only thing that excited them was "when the lecturer said that if this thing fell, all the cars would stop immediately."

Yang Han once traveled around the world on a sailboat and was approached by a domestic organization for cooperation. The organization recruited students and he took people out to sea, with one boat able to take several families. He introduced that the sailing study tour, which has been very popular in the past two years, originated from the aristocratic leisure sports in Europe and the United States. The concept of sailing sports, "letting children face the challenges of the waves and exercise their courage and determination", is very attractive to middle-class parents.

Because his own boat was too small, he had to rent a big one, and the rental fee accounted for the bulk of the cost. "I am just one person, one boat, and I bring a few parents and children. The model determines that I can't expand the scale, which means I can only earn hard-earned money." However, a camp in China can operate 20 boats, "get dozens of children, stay in five-star hotels, and have better food and accommodation, so the money can be justified, and generally high premiums are charged."

From the competition of learning, sports to the competition of vision and knowledge, children in the new era have entered into an all-round competition. Many parents are caught up in it.

"Study and research institutions cooperate directly with schools, and activity notifications are in the parent group. Many classmates have signed up, but your child doesn't go. Does your child feel bad? Do you feel bad seeing your child feel bad?" There are many parents' voices under the complaining posts. Yang Han also found that many of the families he led the tour only signed up because the children wanted to come with their parents. Water sports are very interesting for children. Going to an island in a day, they can also learn about surfing, sea fishing and sailing. However, parents don't eat well, live in simple houses, and some are very seasick. "It's purely to accompany the children."

In lower-tier cities, parents are still looking up, hoping to narrow the gap between their children in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou through study tours.

Xiaoxue, who lives in a fourth-tier city in Shanxi, has observed that the trend of study tours has spread to the county. She is the person in charge of external business. Last year, someone from her factory asked her if she could bring more than 30 first-grade children to visit, on the grounds that they wanted to visit famous companies in their hometown and establish their career dreams. Later, she learned that it was a "low-profile study tour" organized by a children's training class. Considering the safety issues of the manufacturing factory, Xiaoxue declined the request of the person in charge. In order to survive, the county TV station where her friend works also carried out host training and study tours.

However, some people see through this kind of "rolling around". Xiaoxue met two twins in the community, playing with cars and climbing horizontal bars. Their parents work in finance in Beijing. They chose to "lay flat" during the summer vacation, sending their children to their hometown for parenting. They did not study, take extra classes, or travel, but spent the summer vacation like they remembered when they were children.

(Zhang Huan, Wang Li, and Chen Qi are pseudonyms in this article)

References:

"Big Market in the Segmented Track｜The "Study-Study Economy" Trend is Strong" Economic Reference News

(The article is original by Daily People, any infringement will be investigated)