A still of A Love for Separation.(Photo provided to China Daily)
Also, reports from several agencies handling Chinese students going abroad show that nearly 50 percent of inquiries now are about middle schools.
The annual cost for a teenager studying in the U.S. is between 250,000 ($37,500) and 500,000 yuan, says Li Peng, vice-general manager of the Beijing-based agency, Kentrexs Enterprise.
"Culture shock and different lifestyles are among the main obstacles," Li says.
For instance, he says, some Chinese who opt for home-stays are used to having the shower curtain outside the bathtub when they bathe, but this causes the bathroom floor to get wet and this often annoys the host family.
"There are other trivial issues, too, but the overseas experience does teach them to become independent," says Li.
This view is echoed by a number of Chinese parents.
Yu Jie, a 53-year-old mother, who sent her 14-year-old son to the U.S. in 2015, says around 90 percent of the parents she reached out to feel anxious and miss their children for the first six months. But the overseas education benefits the youth.
Guo Li, one of the authors of the best-selling Song Haizi Qu Changqingteng (Send Children to the Ivy League Schools and Colleges), who sent her teenage daughter to the U.S. in 2005, says: "It gives them (the children) more options and opens their eyes, making them more international."
Separately, one is also seeing parents take up a domestic option, which has appeared in recent years.
He Chugang, general manager of Amber Education (South China), says many Chinese families opt for international schools in China instead of sending their children abroad.
But any way you look at it, the trend shows Chinese parents are becoming more open to other education systems.
"Adolescence is the most significant time of life for a human being. It affects your entire life. And an increasing number of Chinese parents are realizing that children should have a happy adolescence," Lu says.
