@Bellum_Romanum Sadly this is very true with regards to many children of successful adults in China. Their parents could be extremely successful in their careers (as in the case of General Li), but their very success meant that they did not have to the time or energy to be good parents and guide their children as the latter grow up. Thus, I wouldn’t be surprised if General Li’s son bombed China’s college entrance exam and chose to study in the US instead. And of course, the son could have had just enough English skills to pass the SAT/ACT but severely lacked critical judgement skills when being approached by foreign intelligence officers whilst abroad. There you have it, General Li’s failure to raise his kid properly ultimately led to his own downfall. Of course, it is all assumption here based on China’s context. Finally from the kids’ perspectives, if they were born into relatively rich or powerful families in China, they may not feel the need to waste time competing to study hard because they lacked the maturity and sense of urgency. It is also why you see so
many peasant kids outperforming city kids in the college entrance exams, albeit that city kids have access to far more educational resources, including studying abroad.
As with me, I was lucky to have a mom who stayed home to tutor me whilst being fluent in English and knows lots of mathematics. My Dad was an insurance sales agent who only returned home twice a week when I studied for the college entrance exam. I was lucky for having a full time parent plus a sense of urgency knowing that the college entrance exam could decide my fate.
