What it takes to be the perfect Hong Kong pupil: Photoshop and HK$1,000
Our second report on the competition faced by Hong Kong students reveals how school application pictures are a new battleground
A small photograph for a school application form no longer means five minutes in a photo booth but an hour-long session at a professional studio.
The resulting photoshopped picture is designed to show principals that the applicant, often a toddler, is just the type of child they want in their school.
But how do the photographers, or the parents, know what type of children principals like? This is where playgroups aimed at toddlers under two, preschool and primary-school interview classes come in, with their connections to those in charge of various schools.
"This is a business chain, with one section linked to another," says Jackson Yim Chi-lung, owner of one photo studio popular with parents.
Yim has photographed playgroup application pictures where the children are not even a year old. Some cannot yet walk and have still to cut a first tooth. Popular playgroups can be picky, and some require interviews after shortlisting candidates.
Yim's studio, Pak Hop Photo, charges parents HK$980 for a CD of pictures of their children, retouched to remove any imperfections. The backgrounds, added after the shoot, add colours aimed at portraying different personality traits - outgoing, reserved, mature or innocent - according to the principals' tastes.