Why Chinese students are flocking to Britain for holiday learning

On the surface, such summer school programs differ little from what British students receive in school during term time.

But in reality, such programs can be eye-opening experiences for Chinese students coming to the UK.

"For the first time in a long while, I felt that I could forget about exam results and piles of homework. I loved sitting on the grass, looking at the sky and reflecting about life," said Wu Jiaming, a 14-year-old girl from Fujian province.

In drama class, she played Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and eventually discovered a passion for acting. "That was my first time trying out acting. It was such a magical experience. It allowed me to see the world from a different perspective," Wu said.

Han Yuxuan, a 15-year-old boy also from Fujian, says he learned to appreciate life's little surprises.

"One day, we received a little assignment, which tasked us with taking a picture together with someone from Cambridge. I approached the owner of a pop-up food stall outside Cambridge City Hall and asked in English if I could take a photo with him. He replied 'yes' in Chinese, and I was pleasantly surprised," Han said.

Han exchanged contacts with the pop-up store owner on WeChat, and the two friends still send each other greetings during holidays such as Spring Festival.

For students such as Wu and Han, such experiences are treasured memories in their journey into adulthood. Similar experiences are sure to be shared by many more Chinese students for years to come.

Chinese travel agency Ctrip forecasts that the number of overseas study trips made by Chinese students this year will reach about 1 million, and these trips will together trigger 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in spending. This forecast represents a 50 percent rise on the number of overseas study trips last year.

Ctrip, which released these figures in April in its 2017-18 Study Tour Market Report, said China has 180 million students from kindergarten to high school, and about 5 percent of them are expected to take part in summer schools, both domestically and internationally.