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Wish Lanterns 

David Seddon

Alec Ash

Jill Waters

Wish Lanterns by Alec Ash: 2. Education

Wish Lanterns

2. Education

Wish Lanterns by Alec Ash

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Wish Lanterns by Alec Ash, 2. Education

Exploring the lives of young Chinese, the 'one-child' offspring of the 1980s.

Exploring the lives of young Chinese, 'one-child' offspring, including the son of a struggling farmer. Read by David Sneddon.

Dahai is a military child and a netizen, Fred is a daughter of the Party, Snail the son of struggling farmers, and Xiaoxiao grew up in the far north and longed to travel south. 

All were infants when the tanks rolled through Beijing in 1989 and none really know much about their country's recent past. In today's episode they endure the rigours of the Chinese education system and the pressure to get the exam grades which lead to college.

There are approximately 322 million Chinese aged between 16 and 30 - a group larger than the population of the USA - and they are destined to have an unprecedented influence on global affairs in the coming years. 

Written by Alec Ash.

Read by David Seddon

Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2016.

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