Hong Kong and mainland parents feel pressure of kindergarten chaos

In August, Michael Wu Ho-yin quit his job with the Hong Kong office of an American university, giving him time to prepare for an epic battle - enrolling his son in kindergarten. He applied to nine preschools, queuing overnight at two. After one such vigil, he crashed his bike, breaking four ribs. Still, he thinks that leaving work was vital.

"It was not out of an adrenaline rush that I quit my job," says Wu. "I believe the decision is absolutely rational. A job, I can find another one. But a son, I've only got one."

The Great Kindergarten Scare of 2013 started when thousands of mainland parents of children born years ago in Hong Kong applied for next school year's kindergarten places. That made parents of local preschoolers agitated, and led many to queue at several preschools for coveted slots.

Some parents camped outside at least five kindergartens - some even more than 10 - for application forms. Some preschools with easy accessibility or particularly good reputations say four in every five adults in the queues came from the mainland.

The battle for preschool spots pitted mainland parents against locals, with many Hongkongers seeing their counterparts as resource-grabbing enemies. The worst invective, though, has been aimed at local school officials who, parents say, should have prepared for the tsunami of new pupils given the number of births years ago. In previous years, there had always been a surplus of kindergarten slots. But because the government did not release details on supply and demand, parents fear their children could get shut out.

"Parents are scared by the long queues. They think if they don't join, their children could be out-competed," says Christopher Yu Wing-fai, director of the non-profit Hong Kong Institute of Family Education.