Schools are a high-pressure environment for Chinese children, demanding hours and hours of extra study sessions in subjects from mathematics to English. The system is still focused largely on rote learning, requiring students to retain vast amounts of information with little concern for developing their creative skills. In this cartoon, posted by artist Yan Peng ( 延鹏) to his QQ.com blog, a young boy is bedridden in the hospital, hooked up to an IV, but his spirits soar at the resulting respite from his grueling school work. A thought bubble over his head reads: “Now I don’t have to attend cram class after cram class. I don’t have to stay up doing my homework until midnight.” On the table beside his bed sits a backpack stuffed full of textbooks.
