China’s education spending remains steady despite hard lessons from economic woes

When Wendy Xiao was told earlier this month that her salary would be cut by almost 20 percent, her immediate thought was to make a list of non-essentials.

As a mid-level manager at a state-owned enterprise in Guangzhou, she had to come to terms with the possibility of not being able to buy her beloved vintage clothes and Japanese ceramic tableware, and of not being able to afford her trip to Central Europe, which she had planned for early next year.

“The state-owned enterprise system has seen an overall decline in wages, and that is not a financial problem that can be solved by any one company.”

The only expense she refused to cut was the nearly 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) a year she spent on education, including tutoring fees, for her 16-year-old son.