Winter is coming for China’s once booming off-campus training market and that could mean spring is right around the corner for China’s Big Tech
- ByteDance, which has taken on established players across a wide range of online products and services, has identified education as a strategic new business
- China’s K-12 off-campus education market is forecast to reach US$112 billion this year, almost double last year which was adversely impacted by the coronavirus
The Haidian Huangzhuang area in Beijing was once a mecca for students wanting to improve their exam performance.
Located in northwest Beijing close to the prestigious Peking University and Tsinghua University, it was home to hundreds of off-campus training schools, while Huangzhuang had become the capital of China’s booming K-12 training market with 600,000 institutions.
The outbreak of Covid-19, however, dealt a heavy blow to the burgeoning sector, with revenues shrinking by half in 2020 from 2019.
Even though the pandemic has been under control in the country’s capital since Lunar New Year in February, very few classes have resumed. On a recent visit to the area, the once-congested streets – where private cars would line up to drop off and pick up kids – were deserted.
Inside Danling Soho, which used to be one of the busiest buildings, one training school after another remains shut with dust gathering on floors behind locked doors.