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As children in China look forward to their six-week summer holiday, parents are finding themselves suffering from higher levels of stress and financial strain than they do during the rest of the school year.
就在中国的孩子们期盼时长六周的暑假之际，家长们发现自己的精神和经济压力比一学年中任何时候都大。
"No freedom summer holiday" became a trending topic on Weibo, China's Twitter, in May, as parents began spending much time and money planning their children's holiday schedule. It was a similar tale last year, when "Having 30,000 yuan monthly salary cannot afford the summer holiday" also went viral online.
当父母们开始花大量时间和金钱规划孩子的暑假时，“没有自由的暑假”在今年5月就已成为微博热门话题。这与去年情形类似。当时，《月薪三万，还是撑不起孩子的一个暑假！》在网上引发热议。
Both trends reflect the anxiety and fear of parents that their children will lag behind other classmates during the summer break. To keep their offspring in study mode, parents try to fill the holiday with different classes and tours, at ever-increasing expense.
这两种趋势反映出家长的焦虑和担心：怕孩子暑假期间落后于其他同学。为了让孩子始终处于学习模式，家长试图用不同课程和出游填满假期，花费自然不断增加。
According to online media platform Sohu News, parents in cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, are most willing to spend on their children's education during the break.
据搜狐新闻调查，广州、上海、北京等城市的父母最愿意在假期为孩子的教育花钱。
"I feel much more pressure during the summer holiday than on normal school days since I need to arrange different activities for them [her children]," said Chan Lee, a 40-year-old Guangzhou mother of two primary schoolchildren.
40岁的陈丽（音）来自广州，有两个在上小学的子女。她说：“我觉得暑假的压力比平时上学大得多，因为我需要为孩子们安排不同的活动。”
"A study tour costs 35,000 yuan and there are also classes and tutorials which are necessary to apply for," she said, explaining that, since schools did not assign much summer homework, she sent her children to holiday classes to better prepare them for the next academic year.
“游学花费3.5万元，还必须得上辅导班。”她解释说，学校没布置太多暑假作业，她把孩子送到补习班，为下学年做好更充分的准备。
Sending children on overseas tours has also become an indispensable part of the break, with nearly everyone in Chan's children's class joining a summer study tour to experience an overseas educational environment, culture, and language through meeting people, visiting famous universities and sightseeing.
让孩子到海外游学，也成为假期不可或缺的一部分，陈丽孩子所在班级几乎所有学生都参加了暑假海外游学，通过与人交流、参观著名大学和观光，来体验国外的教育环境、文化和语言。
"You could feel that he had changed a lot after the tour. He was more organised and confident when communicating with others, as he knew more and had more things to share," she said.
她说：“你可以感觉到他在游学之后改变了很多。他在与人交流时更有条理，也更自信，因为他知道的更多，有更多的东西可以分享。”
Cheng Guowei, a representative of a study tour centre based in Shanghai, said parents were concerned about their children's education.
上海一家游学机构的代表程国伟（音）表示，家长们很关心孩子的教育。
"Nearly 95 percent of our participants are students, most of them are primary and middle school kids. Yet this market is also very competitive, as there are many similar centres and institutions targeting the parents," he said.
他说：“近95%的参团者是学生，其中大多是中小学生。市场上有很多类似的游学机构，以学生家长为目标客户，竞争很激烈。”
Cheng said money was a big concern for parents, with most applying for more affordable destinations like Japan or Singapore, rather than European countries. His cheapest Asian tours cost about 10,000 yuan for six to seven days, with trips to English-speaking countries like the United States and Canada priced from 20,000, excluding air fares.
他说，对于家长们来说，钱是个大问题。多数学生申请去日本或新加坡等费用更低的国家游学，而不是欧洲国家。最便宜的亚洲国家游学，六七天花费约1万元，到美国和加拿大等英语国家游学的价格则是2万元起步，还不包括机票。
The study tours were not about academic knowledge but broadening horizons, Cheng said.
他说，游学不是为了学习知识，而是为了开拓眼界。
"To be honest, in just two weeks what kind of knowledge can they learn? But kids, of course, like study tours, which must be better than staying at home doing homework or attending classes," he said.
他说：“说实话，两周时间能学到什么？但孩子们当然喜欢游学，这肯定比呆在家里做作业或上课外班要好。”
According to the Sohu News survey, when parents are not making travel plans for their children, they are applying for special interest classes and supplementary tutorials to fill in the spare hours of the summer holiday.
据搜狐新闻的调查，如果家长没给孩子安排旅行计划，就会给孩子报兴趣班和课外辅导班把假期填满。
On Weibo, a post about "Fight over 7,000 yuan summer supplementary classes" became a hot trend and attracted more than 180 million comments in July, as parents rushed to secure places for their children in the most popular holiday classes.
在微博上，一篇关于“为花7000元报名暑期补习班打架”的帖子成为热议话题，并在7月份收到超过1.8亿条评论，家长们争相为孩子在最热门的假期补习班中报名。
Yin Jianli, a writer who specialises in family and education issues, said it was unnecessary to arrange activities for children during the summer holidays.
专门研究家庭和教育问题的作家尹建利表示，没有必要在暑假期间为孩子们安排活动。
"Parents are not helping their children, they are just doing it to reduce their own anxiety," she said.
她说：“父母这样做不是为了帮助孩子，而是为了减轻自己的焦虑。”
Many parents thought they could buy their children a better education, "but actually, a holiday should be a time for rest and play, not study", she said.
她说，许多家长认为他们可以为孩子买到更好的教育，“但实际上，假期应该是休息和玩耍的时间，而不是学习。”
