In Beijing, where it is generally believed that the best primary schools are old-style public institutions, parents who have already secured places for their children at such establishments by having hukou, or permanent residence in an area, still send them to out-of-school classes while they are at kindergarten.

A mother, surnamed Liao, in Beijing's Xicheng district, who has a 4-year-old son, said: "More than half the parents of children in the last year at the kindergarten that my son goes to are abandoning it and sending them to out-of-school classes instead. There are three classes of children (at the kindergarten) in the first two years, but only one in the final year."

Liao said most parents decide on this course of action because after starting primary school, the speed of teaching "will be fast and children have to prepare in advance".

"People from my generation with the best academic performance went to Peking University, while for children today, the best ones go to Harvard. As the world stage for Chinese kids widens, parents find that their children are no longer winners if they get a place at top Chinese universities," Liao said.

Qu Tingting, who teaches at a public primary school in Shanghai's Fengxian district, said parental anxiety is understandable, as educational requirements for talent are high.

"The spring college entrance exam in Shanghai in January used stories from foreign newspapers for English listening and reading comprehension tests, and many of the participants said the vocabulary went far beyond that required in the curriculum.

"This will certainly increase the popularity of reading foreign news stories," she said.

Teachers accused by parents of skipping fundamental knowledge points in class and teaching too quickly said they try to avoid this, but are sometimes told to adopt such practices by some parents.

Wu Tingting, a primary school teacher in Shanghai's Minhang district, said: "Many children have learned before school begins. Some have already run a long way before the race starts."