Kids Don't Come Cheap

Two-year-old toddler Afu chuckled among the robots, teddy bears and colorful comic books as he amused himself by taking the jacket off of a teddy bear and putting it on Bumblebee, a popular member of the Transformers line of robot toys.
His mother Wang Yang did not share his mirth.
"As parents, the financial pressure on us grows with our son," Wang said. After arriving in Beijing from Liaoning Province more than a decade ago, Wang got married in 2003. After a great deal of time and effort, she and her husband bought an affordable car and a small apartment in the suburbs of the capital.
"We knew that bringing up a child would mean pressure, but the situation now is beyond what we could have imagined, " Wang said. A week ago, she paid a 1,000 yuan ($147) deposit to reserve a place in 2011 for Afu at a private kindergarten.
The baby boom brought about partly by the lucky Chinese year of the Pig in 2007 and the 2008 Olympics is putting pressure on present kindergarten intakes in China's big cities. The demand for places is so high that parents are braving the expense of private kindergartens and also willing to put down a deposit a year in advance.
" I was lucky to get Afu a place for next year. I went to three other kindergartens before this one that were completely booked out," Wang said.
Should Wang change her mind between now and next year she will forfeit the deposit. Afu’s tuition fees are almost 2,500 yuan (US$ 360) a month. Wang and her husband earn around 13,000 yuan per month between them. Out of this they must pay the mortgage and the family living expenses. They also support their four retired parents, and live in fear one of them might fall ill and need costly medical treatment.
Although Afu’s tuition fees are a huge expense, as non-native Beijingers Wang and her husband have no chance of finding a place for Afu in a public kindergarten. They are reserved for children with a local hukou (residence permit).
For such parents as Afu’s there are two alternatives: His parents either pay 100,000 yuan or more so he can "study at a public school on a temporary basis" or find him a place at kindergarten.
 
Kindergarten Wars
The queue for next year's entrance started early this year. The crowds waiting to clinch a place for their tots at the most desired kindergartens often resemble hordes of fans awaiting the arrival of a pop star.
Some kind of auto show appeared to be in progress at 4 pm in front of the Blue Sky Kindergarten -- considered one of the best in Beijing and which has air force connections. Limousines lined up at the front of the gate and squeezed into neighborhood hutongs waiting for the children to finish class.
"It’s like this every day, the cars block our way and it's very annoying," said a local resident surnamed Zhang. He said most of the cars look super expensive, so "the children in the kindergarten must come from very rich families."
Many senior officials send their children or grandchildren to the Blue Sky  kindergarten, and are frequent visitors there. Blue Sky tots get the first chance to enter TV competitions and perform at the Chinese New Year Gala on TV which nearly 70 percent of the population watches.
"Social inequality is the cause of many problems today in China. The bulk of the wealth is controlled by the rich people or power groups, and there is unequal redistribution of wealth throughout society," said Li Shi, director of the Income Distribution and Poverty Research Center at Beijing Normal University.
"This huge wealth gap denies the poor equal access to education and other public services. The resultant educational discrepancy will enlarge the gap and cause social instability."
Hard Graft
Wang Jiawei gets up at 6 am every weekday. He gets up, washes his face and naps for another 10 minutes before breakfast.
"I have bread and milk for breakfast because it doesn’t take long to prepare or eat and gives me more time to sleep."
Wang married in 2008 after graduating five years ago from one of the best financial schools in China. He works overtime whenever he can but, like many young people in the city, he still can't afford a car, an apartment, or to raise a child.
"Living in Beijing is too expensive. I have hardly any savings even though I’ve worked for many years, so I don't want to any more financial liabilities," Wang said. His parents have offered to pay the costs of raising his child, if he has one, but he has not taken them up on it.
 "I think feeding my family should be my responsibility. My parents have already expended far too much energy and effort on me, and I don't want them to use more of their valuable time on another child. Raising a child has never been more expensive, and we can barely feed ourselves."
A record $560 billion’s worth of residential property changed hands in China last year, 80% more than in 2008, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC). But prices have more than doubled in the capital, where locals typically earn less than 60,000 yuan a year. The price of a regular two-bedroom apartment is now as high as 3 million yuan. And the price of living has also rocketed.  During the first quarter of this year, for example, the price of vegetables rose 20% percent, according to NBSC.
"I want a child, but I don't know when I’ll be able to. I’ve heard about how expensive kindergartens are and how difficult it is to get a place in one,” Wang said. "Life is already tough enough for us young people, but at least I have the freedom to decide to make my life slightly easier by not having a child."
Urban rides
Banker Wang travels to work on a crowded bus each morning in his formal white shirt and dark suit. If he's lucky, he can get a spot close to the windows, where he can look at the view of the rapidly developing capital. The bus flanks a dirt road that has many empty buildings still being built. The blank silver billboards at the roadside, meanwhile, reflects nothing but early July sunshine.
" I like to see what others are doing when I take the bus in the morning," Wang said. "I remember years ago in Beijing that people on the bus always had something to read, whether a book or a newspaper. But now, many people sleep on the bus, and look as tired as I feel.”
"China is transitioning from an agricultural society to an industrial society and at the same time becoming a society of stress ," sociology professor at Renmin University Li Lu said. "In today's transitional society, wealth is the only criteria through which to measure success. This makes people keen to achieve quick success and instant benefits. This is why to many parents a better kindergarten education could give their children a starting line advantage."
 More Kindergartens Needed
The number of kindergartens in Beijing has dropped from 3,000 in 2001 to 1,200 this year. Although the Beijing government agency recently announced it would open more kindergartens, Li said this would not be a permanent solution.
"People today realize that society is competitive, and that they have to be very good at what they do to earn a living in big cities in China.　Aware of the pressure that awaits, they push their children to study hard and better their peers," Li said. " They have no other choice."
After lunch, Wang Yang and her husband tried to find an English class for Afu. Most of the English schools charge at least two thousand yuan a year, but they think the cost is worthwhile.
"Most children in China study English before they go to elementary school. If Afu doesn't learn it, he won't be able compete with others at school," Wang said.
Afu’s parents also checked other schools. They want their only son to learn piano, painting, and maybe Chinese calligraphy. They have great expectations of Afu's future, no matter what the cost.
"Afu" in Chinese means "good fortune."
After hours of school hunting, Wang's husband is tired and thirsty. He felt like a bottle of coke, but his wife produced a bottle of water from her bag.
"Don't buy soft drinks, take this. We need the money for Afu’s education," she said.