Xu Lingling thought her future was settled. She was working as an English tutor for the Chinese education giant New Oriental in the eastern city of Wenzhou, teaching junior high schoolers on evenings and weekends. It was a draining job, but the 25-year-old loved it. It was well-paid, engaging, and seemed as stable as they come. New Oriental — a U.S.-listed firm with a celebrity founder and a billion-dollar valuation — was a leading player in a booming industry. Xu expected to stay there for years.
Then, in July, everything fell apart.
The Chinese government
launched a severe clampdown on private tutoring, blaming the industry for fueling an unhealthy
educational rat race. Academic classes on weekends and holidays were banned. Education firms were prevented from opening new centers or raising capital. From January 2022, all for-profit academic tutoring would be outlawed.
