Early Learning Resources in Beijing

Sue Nichols

2008

Brief context

New generation of single children whose parents are also single children; shrinking of the extended family and corresponding weakening of power of cultural transmission through families

Complex impacts of urban reconstruction on lives of young children and their families

Market reforms have resulted in establishment of private businesses eg bookshops, schools for which the middle classes are main consumers;

Influx of rural people into Beijing to provide labour for construction; people in this group do not have a city ID card and so are denied access to city resources such as schools;

Xinhua crosses Borders

Xinhua is the state run publisher and until recently the only Chinese publishing outlet. According to XX, Xinhua stores in major centres have recently undergone a complete reorganisation & facelift, improving accessibility of books through the use of open shelving & signage and employing marketing strategies such as discounting. These photos were taken at the Xidan Book Building in Beijing, a Xinhua store.

Children’s book section

Family EducationAn informant explained that the term Family Education (Jiating Jiaoshi) is intended to be inclusive of all carers for children including fathers and grandparents. A discourse of developmentalism is evident in the targeting of specific ages.

Texts like these express the modern child-centred mode of parenting which middle-class Chinese identify as progressive compared to their own more traditional upbringing.

Some titles

• More Educate More Intelligent

• 4 Lessons for a Pupil’s Mother

• Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain

• 10 Ways of Parental Education Children Dislike Best

These titles give an indication of the range of parenting and early learning discourses circulating through the textual domain in China. The second is representative of the somewhat authoritarian model of advice giving to mothers which I am told characterised the prior period of parenting texts.

Parenting magazines

Magazine stands are on many street corners. Those with the most stock have the magazine ‘Parents’; smaller stands do not. As in the US, sale is by subscription; you cannot pick one up in passing

The title of ‘Parenting Science’ carries the authority of tested wisdom. A team of experts provides advice in the many Q/A features. With ‘Parents’ there are two main magazines. Niche markets have yet to open.

Inside Parenting Science

Promotions for infant/toddler toysA picture reading activity, answers over page. Rather challenging for toddlers?

Promotion of books on children’s gender differences in Parenting Science.

This is an issue of interest to Chinese parents. One of my informants had purchased the Biddulph book Raising Boys on Amazon’s Chinese site and had discussed it with friends. This informant’s friend had non-identical twins and the differences between the boy and the girl were discussed as evidence of innate gender differences. Under the One Child Policy, in-family sibling comparisons are not as readily available as a resource for interpreting children.

Early learning toys for infants & toddlers: Old style department store

Children’s section occupies one small corner of large store. Items are crowded onto shelves and prices are cheap to moderate. This area was quite lively with customers. There’s a small children’s computer display adjacent.

Early learning toys for infants & toddlers: New upmarket mall

Three shops stocking international brand early learning materials and other infant/child goods. Carefully arranged non-cluttered displays, very expensive, practically deserted.

Private Education: Little Oak Preschool

Little Oak represents the new phenomenon of private preschool education for local Chinese children (rather than being confined to internationals) It occupies the site of a former state facility which closed owing to the ageing population proifile of the neighbourhood.

The relatively high fees ensure a high staff-pupil ratio. It has a progressive, individualised and activity focused curriculum.

Little Oak is very active in the promotion of reading. It has a very well stocked library from which children can borrow as well as a book shop from which parents can purchase books. The Director, Professor Wang Gan, runs parent sessions on reading to children twice weekly. The Saturday session is open to families who do not enrol their children in the preschool.

Reading Clubs• Reading clubs provide book-

related activities for parents and children usually on the weekend

• Red Mud is an example. It operates out of a bookshop which occupies one apartment in an apartment building.

• The proprietors promote reading to/by children. They run a web-site which advertises the club’s activities, as well as selling and even writing books.

• This kind of privately run book business has only been possible since 2004. Before that new books could only be purchased through the state owned Xinhua stores.

Sign above the door of the Red Mud children’s bookshop which is located upstairs in an apartment building in a Beijing neighbourhood.

• Ajia (pictured top left) runs Red Mud with his brother. He has co-written a book for parents explaining how to select appropriate books and what kinds of reading practices to employ.

Ajia also writes regularly for Parenting Science. At left is part of his Top 10 book selection. Many of these books can be purchased through Red Mud.

Many of the books recommended by Ajia are translations of western texts. A recent book Reading in China states that the popularity of western children’s books has been attributed to ‘the lack of children’s language and narrative style in China’s books, which tend to be too didactic. Also publishers are ‘pursuing short-term goals … rather than develop their own content’ (Hui trans. Xianghua 2007 p. 32-3).

Yaolan Parents Website

Site For Chinese Moms Yaolan.com Raises $17.1 Million Third RoundBy Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 25 Mar 2008 09:56 AM PST The mother demographic is hot in China, too… Yaolan.com, a community site for pregnant and nursing mothers, has raised a $17.1 million third round from Foundation Capital and NSA Investments, along with return backers Sutter Hill Ventures and Chengwei Ventures, says peHUB. The company had previously raised $9 million, bringing its total to $26.1 million.

Advertising on home page:

Pampers

Nestle http://fantastic.pampers.com.cn

Volvo

Lijiababy (infant formula marketed with music, other baby products)

Taoboa.com (online shopping, fashion, cosmetics)

Themes in early learning

• Age appropriateness• Progressivism• Gender difference• Grandparent care• Preparation for later achievement• Impacts of indulgence• Urban-rural disparity• Private-state provision differences