According to Xiong, the trend started in around 2007 and has been witnessing a sharp increase in the last five years, which is closely related to increasing incomes.
"It shows that Chinese parents are paying increasing attention to education. More and more parents hope their children can enlarge their knowledge and horizons by touring abroad. Some parents who want to send their children to school abroad also see it as preparation," said Xiong.
But Xiao, a mother of a 9-year-old, said that the fees for such travel are too high for average families who may have to save several months' wages to afford a trip.
"We need to spend money where it is needed most. With 30,000 yuan I'd rather go to a less popular destination with my whole family," said Xiao.
Overwhelming anxiety
Xiao admitted that while money is one reason she did not send her son abroad this summer, she also feels the market is not well regulated, which may pose potential problems.
Currently, the market lacks clear supervision and often prices are unreasonably high. And many children have complained that they learn little on the trip and even their sightseeing is hurried.
More importantly, there are safety problems. A student once told the media that on a visit to the US in 2016 organized by a travel agency, the minibus they used had been converted from a seven-seat vehicle without the addition of proper seat belts.
But these problems seem inconsequential when weighed against Chinese parents' enthusiasm, given the exploding market. Or, the parents maybe don't expect much from the tours.
"I don't have high expectations. I just hope she could learn more about the world, have a different experience and, if possible, improve her English," said Wang who lives in Beijing. "It is huge expenditure for my family, but we think it is worthwhile."
Many parents actually just regard such trips as a necessary experience for their children's development, as they have increasingly become a must-do in big cities, regardless of their effect.
Lucy Wu, a Beijing accountant, said she always feels anxious about her son's education. She said many parents choose to make their children participate in all kinds of activities because they worry that their children "may fall behind other children a bit" if they don't catch up.
Seeing that many parents were showing off pictures of their children abroad, she entered her son's name for a 15-day trip to the US.
But in the end she had to give up on that plan because the trip conflicted with his remedial classes, which cost her nearly 20,000 yuan every term. "Otherwise I worry he may fail to catch up in high school," said Wu.
Some parents who send their children abroad just hope they could be regarded as equals in class discussions, because at least they have something to talk about.
Wang, an English teacher at a well-known Beijing high school, told the Global Times that every year her school sends students abroad for a study tour. And at the beginning of every term they start by inviting students to share what they did over the holidays.
Other schools ask students to write essays about their holiday. Some parents revealed online that if their children have nothing to share but training classes they feel ashamed. "Now study tours are popular, some parents feel ashamed if they don't send their children abroad," said Xiong.
Blind comparison
Wu says the anxiety she feels over education investment is exclusively a middle-class problem.
"The elite class doesn't worry about money at all, and people living at the bottom of society will not worry about these trips as they have little money," analyzed Wu. "Just the middle class, their expectations are high, and they can reach them if they go far enough, so they are anxious."
Some experts point out that in China's fast-changing society, the well-off middle class are anxious that they may fall off into a lower class if they don't work hard to build on what they have acquired.
But Xiong warned that this anxiety can easily result in irrational purchases, blind comparisons and other actions which can be described as "burning money for education."
For some middle-class people who want to distinguish themselves from working-class people, the comparison has extended from houses, cars and travel destinations to which school their children go to, which camps the children join and even their training classes.
While admitting that study tours can be valuable, Xiong pointed out that the expense of a trip does not necessarily correlate with its quality.
"Some parents don't care what the children have gained at all, they just want to show off the fact that they went abroad on their WeChat. This mindset directly leads to the problems in the study tour sector, this fact is manipulated by tour agencies," said Xiong.
"Some are using their big expenditure to show their ability to provide their children with a good education," said Xiong. "They compare it like they compare luxury clothes or cars. If money can really buy educational success, then all the children of the affluent would be elite."
"Parents need to change their views on education and stop irrational investments and comparison. Otherwise, they are ruining their children."
