Shanshan

Shanshan is a mother living in the highly competitive Haidian district of Beijing, where she is raising her two daughters with an intense focus on early education, particularly in foreign languages. Feeling societal pressure, she enrolled her eldest daughter in English courses at a young age despite her limited proficiency in Chinese. Shanshan, who works for an international company, reflects on the fierce competition among parents in her community, often questioning whether she is doing enough to prepare her children for the academic pressures they will face.