中国自2021年推行“双减”政策以减轻学生的作业与校外培训负担，禁止针对科学、历史等核心学科开展营利性课后补习。然而政策实施五年后，庞大的应试需求非但没有消失，反而被迫转入地下和新型黑市。昔日的教培产业巨头如新东方和好未来等上市公司市值暴跌近90%，蒸发了约1000亿美元，不得不转型至成人教育与非学科辅导。与此同时，全国多地执法检查组频繁对隐秘补习点展开突击查处，例如惠州警方高调发布突击搜查视频，长沙公开通报113处违规补习点地址；许多家庭则通过让孩子假借“书法班”之名学习奥数，或斥巨资聘请名义上的“升学顾问”等昂贵违规手段继续补习。

由于补习服务的供给受到严厉限制，而在高考和中考压力下学生的旺盛需求不减，课后辅导费用大幅飙升。以往面向大众的平价培训班消失后，教育竞争演变成家庭财力的比拼，一名北京家长为十岁儿子报读伪装成书法的数学课与英语课，单学期花费就高达2万元人民币（近3000美元）。此外，允许开展的素质类课外班也陷入了军备竞赛，一些幼儿园五岁儿童每周需兼顾三次法语课以及声乐、舞蹈、体操和拳击等多门培训。无论是高收入群体为防止阶层下滑，还是低收入家庭期望向上流动，极度内卷的社会现实迫使家长普遍抱持“别无选择只能参与”的焦虑心态。

为疏导需求，官方尝试推广“5+2”课后服务模式，要求学校在放学后多留学生两小时以衔接家长下班时间，并提供课业复习与体艺拓展活动。然而由于经费匮乏，该举措在多地异化为单纯的自习作业看管；随着在校时间延长两小时，家长反而更加紧迫地在缝隙中为孩子安排违规补课。中国超竞争的社会体制使家长坚信多读书是阶层跃升或防止下坠的最佳途径，因此人口萎缩或经济增长短期内无法消解这种竞争焦虑。原本具有普遍可及性的学科辅导班被取缔后，教育资源分配更加不公，并将无数一心为子女着想的普通家庭逼成了违法者。

Five years after China launched its 2021 “double reduction” policy to curb homework and outlaw for-profit after-school tutoring in core academic subjects, the voracious demand for test preparation has been driven into an illicit black market. While the crackdown devastated established education giants—wiping out roughly $100bn in market value as listed giants like New Oriental and TAL plunged by nearly 90% and pivoted to adult training—demand remains resilient. Across the country, inspection task forces stage high-profile raids on covert cram sessions, from southern Huizhou broadcasting sting footage to Changsha publicly naming and shaming 113 illegal tutoring addresses, while families adopt ruses such as disguising maths Olympiad lessons as permitted calligraphy classes or illegally hiring high-priced “guidance counsellors”.

Restricting the supply of tuition against unabated consumer demand has predictably inflated prices, turning academic competition into a contest of family wealth. Whereas previous cram schools offered relatively affordable mass options, underground tutoring now demands exorbitant fees; one Beijing parent pays 20,000 yuan (nearly $3,000) per semester for a clandestine maths and English class for his ten-year-old child. Simultaneously, permissible extracurricular activities have triggered an intense arms race, with children as young as five subjected to weekly schedules packed with French, vocal training, dance, gymnastics, and boxing, driven by affluent parents terrified of downward social mobility and lower-income families seeking advancement.

To absorb student time and relieve parental pressure, the government introduced the “5+2” model requiring schools to retain pupils for two extra hours after classes for enrichment and sports. However, chronic funding shortfalls have degraded this program in many cities into mere supervised homework detention, which perversely intensifies parental anxiety to schedule clandestine tutoring into the remaining evening hours. Rooted in China's ultra-competitive educational pathways where academic attainment remains the primary vehicle for socioeconomic mobility, the elimination of widely accessible tutoring centers has ultimately exacerbated educational inequality and criminalized ordinary parents desperately seeking an edge for their children.

Source: China’s tutoring crackdown has created a black market

Subtitle: The academic system has become more unfair but just as pressure-filled

Dateline: Sep 17th 2026\n