Emigration Options

Southern Metropolis Weekly July 14, 2010

As millions of students rose early to do last minute cramming for Chinas national college entrance exam on a morningof this summer, many middle school students abandoned the exam, or gaokao, and chose to study abroad. Accordingto the Ministry of Education, about 840,000 people registered to abandon the exam in 2009, and the number roseto nearly 1 million in 2010. Most of the students going to study abroad are quite young, being born in the 1990s. Theirfamilies believe that a degree from a reputable foreign university will help their children clinch a good job in a tightemployment market. Apart from a wider selection of leading universities abroad and the prospects of a better education,the greatly improved financial situation of the average Chinese family had made study abroad more affordable.

Also, many simply did so because their wealthy families, especially those in big Chinese cities such as Beijing andShanghai, have dreams of emigrating. According to a report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a newwave of emigration of increasing number of Chinese social elites has drawn much attention from the public. In orderto avoid problems facing their children studying abroad, such as anxiety and loneliness, and pressure from their newschools, they prefer whole-family migration so as to accompany their children.