Skip to main content

What’s wrong with bribing your 3-year-old with a gold star? Or, if you’re in China, it’s a red star.

Chinese American journalist Lenora Chu was a new mother when she first moved to Shanghai with her husband. She quickly discovered that the authoritarian style of Chinese schooling clashed with her American upbringing in Texas.  How? What did she do?

After eight years of research and living in China, she wrote a book called “Little Soldiers” describing how children are educated and what the education system is designed to accomplish.

Check out my interview with Lenora Chu in this episode – “This Chinese American Life: What’s an education for?”


We want to include you in this conversation.

To send us your comments or stories, just go to our Facebook page or our website at OneinABillionVoices.org under “Pitch a Story.”

Share your thoughts? Pitch me a story?“One in a Billion” is listening to #China, one person at a time. Subscribe to “One in a Billion” below: PRx iTunes SoundCloud