What has been billed as the largest kindergarten in the country opened in Beijing at the weekend, complete with hefty fees aimed at the city's middle class.
Zhang Jinlan, 38, will spend 1,600 yuan (HK$1,500) a month for her three-year-old daughter Lillian to attend the Yi Zhuang kindergarten, a 42-million-yuan school standing on 25,000 square metres. A total of 200 children have been enrolled so far, and the school will have a capacity of up to 1,400.
Yi Zhuang advertises better quality staff, bilingual classes, good sporting equipment and modern management, appealing to Beijing's small but growing class of white-collar workers who can afford to pay the fees for their children.
Lillian's kindergarten fees account for 10 per cent of Ms Zhang's household spending. But Ms Zhang said she would spare no expense on education and believed that no parent in China would hesitate to spend money to give their children a solid foundation.
'I've pinned high hopes on my daughter, so I want her to have the best start she can,' she said.
Resident Michael Zhang, 37, who is not related to Ms Zhang, said his 10-year-old daughter's kindergarten fees were more costly than her primary school tuition.