A 10-year-old girl from Changsha in Hunan refuses to study English and insists on learning Korean because of her love for South Korean pop idols, local media report.
The girl told her mother that Korean was the only foreign language she wanted to learn, even though English is compulsory and essential for entry into most mainland universities, Xiao Xiang Chen Bao reports.
The girl has an encyclopedic knowledge of Korean pop stars, and her greatest interest was talking about South Korean dramas and music with her friends, the report quoted her mother as saying.
Her parents had banned her from using the internet and watching television at home so she caught up on her favourite shows when she stayed with her grandparents on the weekend, her mother said.
She spent almost all of her pocket money on pop star merchandise, from postcard albums to expensive sneakers.