Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
School's out. Exams done.
Now Gen Z is in the driver's seat.
Literally, from AI -powered driving lessons to graduation discounts on gadgets and trips, businesses are cashing in on the summer rush.
In this moment of past or let's say post -exam freedom, What do these choices say about a generation ready to steer their own future?
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Yang. For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherley and Yu Shun, first on today's show.
You know what's one of the best parts of passing your end -of -year exams this time of the year?
It means summer vacation is finally kicking off.
For all students, and especially high school graduates, it's time to celebrate.
After surviving the grueling National College Entrance Examination, also known as the Gaokao, many are diving into a whole new set of summer plans.
Enrolling in driving school to get their driver's license, traveling, shopping for the perfect new laptop, or even booking LASIK or other vision correction procedures.
After all, you want to start college looking and feeling your best, right?
Exams are finally over, and like clockwork, driving schools are flooded with students eager to get behind the wheel.
So what do we know about these surging numbers this time?
Oh, yeah. So driving schools nationwide are seeing surge of student enrollments, especially after the period of after the examination of Gaokao or these huge examinations.
Are they seeing a surge in radio announcer signups as well?
Because you were doing that recently, too.
Yes. Yeah, of course.
But that I didn't mean to throw you off.
I joined the group of a bunch of college students, but of course, and it is quite hard to get sign up for some of my lessons, to be honest. So I also got affected, to be true.
I apologize for interrupting.
Please continue. Anyway, yeah, this registration numbers have jumped significantly compared to regular periods.
And CCTV News reported that recent high school graduates making up over 90 % of new signups and some schools are launching exclusive graduation offers such as extended class hours, VR simulation lessons, and AI -powered training vehicles to enhance services and attract more learners.
Yeah, I guess it makes sense, right?
The exam period's finished into vacation time now.
And when you have that amount of free time, then it is the perfect time to sign up to get your driver's license.
90%, you said, are recent high school graduates.
So good luck to all those students.
times have changed haven't they i remember when i got my driver's license i remember the practice sessions with the driving instructor i don't know if they do this here in china but in canada so i sit in the driver's seat right of course and then the teacher sits in the passenger seat but there's a break in the passenger yeah okay it's the same thing then right and i just remember you know making the odd mistake and suddenly the teacher would be like the car would come to a screeching halt but now vr simulation lessons what that's cool ai powered training vehicles awesome it's a different experience
now i guess yeah i actually had that kind of experience and um i would say definitely first of all calm a lot of first learners down because uh if if it was like pastime you have to sit in the real car for holding the wheel right and it just it intimidate me but if I'm sitting in a it's a similar simulator and I can drive through that kind of app it's like a driving game yeah so yeah it's so much easier for a lot of first learners to get adapt to that kind of mode or sensei or mindset of learning how to drive yeah kind of adjustment a little bit.
Yeah. And so did we kind of insinuate that Yushun, oh, actually Yushun has shared on the show in a previous episode, that he's taking some driving lessons and a little bird told me that somebody's been struggling to sign up for lessons because suddenly all these students, they have the time to compete to sort of get the cars, get the training cars and the the driver instructor's time, and this working dude, he's just really struggling to sign up for these classes.
Find an open spot. Yeah, that kind of thing.
And when I went to get my driver's license, and usually I think the vast majority of Chinese people would go to a driver's school to learn how to drive before passing the test with flying colors, hopefully.
And that was almost at least 15 years ago for me and I remember the driving schools used to be kind of messy conduct I remember like it was regular to slip in a bribe which would be a box of cigarettes and I hated it because I don't smoke and already already paid a few thousand yuan to afford this package of let's say 20 driving lessons and on top of that I'm expected to slip the cigarette box to to the uh driver coach who smelled poorly and as a young woman being in that closed environment with a stranger is something I don't like to start with and then with those shabby practices which was common it
was just a horrible experience for for a lot of people I would think yeah that but that has changed yeah say that used to be the impression and kind of a custom of getting into a driving school right you need to even sometimes bribe but the coach but yeah sorry can i just add one point and you would think like why would you need to bribe that person since you paid for the the tuition right i still didn't get it maybe sometimes you need these coach to um they they will give you like extra time to practice sometimes and maybe before the exact exam that you're gonna take you can have a couple of rounds
to go with the car that you're going to use.
Yeah, special attention.
And also, this is a horrible stereotype, but it maybe rings true to a certain extent.
Like, let's say for me, a young woman back then, and I have never played any of those car video games, nor have I sat in a simulator of the driving experience, which is pretty common these days.
It was just very new to me.
And also, I was just, I was intimidated as well.
And I hated the experience of sitting in that small closed environment with a man that was like reeking of cigarette odor.
Well, partially your fault you provided those.
And the really gross part of it was that you felt you were compelled to do it because otherwise this man could be shouting at you.
You could be receiving very poor teaching attitude and you're already scared enough behind the wheel.
And you know that if you don't drive well, then we're talking about life and death on the street.
Okay, I might be a little dramatic, But I think it's important to drive responsibly anyhow.
So but it's good to see that the driving experience or this driving or the teaching procedure is more standardized now.
And also, I'd say just, you know, report when you feel it is right, the right thing to do.
Because I, I remember walking away from my driving lessons feeling such a coward. because at the time already we saw that you can report for poor practices but because i i feared that the um the coach would retaliate or something so i didn't report and then i don't know why all of a sudden on today's show the memory floodgates just opened and then i let it out on national radio i don't i don't think i've told anybody this story before but anyhow so now it seems like there's a robust report system and people can guard their rights.
And I hope that people are more outspoken about this now.
And it will be more effective when the whole platforms and the whole industry is more standardized.
And I was just talking about this with my friend the other day, driving school instructors have long had that kind of reputation, right?
And they're always yelling at you, making the learning experience pretty miserable.
It's interesting because if you watch Hollywood movies or American dramas, the same types of stereotypes kind of exist. They tend to be an intimidating person and they're never happy.
But, you know, these are stereotypes.
types. Anyway, let's talk some more statistics, shall we?
Jingzhou, they have around 270 driving schools, and they are actively recruiting students from January to May this year.
This is proof of how busy it gets this time of year.
Each month saw an average of 20 ,000 students, not from January to May, every month saw an average of 20 ,000.
And then in June, and again, it's the summer learning peak.
Enrollment is expected to exceed 50 ,000.
And you said already that 90 % of those numbers are made up by students.
So there's lots of demand this time of year.
I guess it's a fun slash stressful experience for students.
And it's probably the busiest time of year for the instructors as well.
One driving school in the area I just mentioned, they've introduced introduced AI driven robots and a smart teaching platform.
And with that system, a single instructor, and this is totally different from before too, a single teacher can monitor and guide 10 different training cars simultaneously.
They can do that from a central control station.
So I guess what that means is it's making the, uh, the process a lot more streamlined and a lot more efficient.
Yes. And, um, it's completely different from what we have that kind of, um, impression to the driving school.
Yeah, and summer isn't just a big moment for getting your driver's license.
It's also prime time to travel.
This year, graduation travel and family trips are definitely stealing the spotlight.
This summer, traveling China is booming and especially among families and also recent graduates.
Domestic trips are seeing a surge with popular destinations like like Chengdu in southwest China, Hangzhou in eastern China, and Sanya, the tropical island attracting young travelers, while family -led travel now makes up over 60 % of bookings, focusing on more immersive and educational experiences.
I never got to do that, and I kind of regret it, you know, when my best friend graduated from from high school and i'm not giving this as a piece of advice by the way to students out there it's just what my best friend did he decided to take six months before going to university and travel around europe with a backpack wow and he invited me to go with him and i said no because i have to go straight to university and graduate and get a job and do all the things that you're supposed to do looking back i don't usually regret things but that's one of my biggest regrets he had had an amazing time.
So travel is definitely an exciting thing for students when they graduate, isn't it?
But you also got the experience of learning.
Yeah, that's true. And I did the traveling later, I suppose we could say.
What's interesting here, too, is that young travelers between the ages of 17 and 19, they're showing quite different preferences when it comes to their destinations.
A lot of the popular cities in the country are popular on social media.
So So social media is helping to drive the interest in these destinations.
And then you've got, you know, your big spots like Beijing and Xi 'an and Nanjing, the students that are interested in having like a rich historical or cultural journey will visit those spots.
And, uh, also this is information from a, from a domestic travel wholesaler.
Um, the number of summer travelers has already surged by 70 % compared to the period last Last year, bookings for both visa -free international destinations, domestic hotspots, they're still pouring in as we're having this conversation right now.
So this summer is going to be one of the hottest seasons travel -wise that we've had in a while, I guess.
Also, in this way, international travel is on the rise, right?
thanks to easier visa access and more flights with high demand for both short -haul spots like Japan and long -haul destinations like the UK and Nordic countries.
And less traditional destinations such as Kenya, Chile, and Cuba are gaining popularity as well as travelers increasingly seek their unique and personalized experiences through going to these countries.
And there are also new travel trends among young Chinese people who are traveling smarter, and that means going to places without paying more.
Yeah, this is called a boomerang flight, and it's a really kind of intelligent way, I think, to go about your travel.
So it's kind of a trick that's becoming really popular, especially with students on their summer break.
So what it is, is instead of flying directly to your destination, they'll book a flight with a long layover or an extra stop so that you can visit more cities along the way.
And the biggest bonus is it's cheaper about you can save about 500 to 700 yuan or that's about 70 to 100 dollars per ticket.
It's more fun and you kind of get two trips for the price of one.
right so um what what that would look like is let's say you were going to i don't know pick any city pick a city uh i actually considered doing this when we were going away let's say you're going to thailand somewhere but you don't fly directly to thailand you stop in shanghai for a 72 hour layover that's exactly what i did oh did you really yeah but we stopped in chengdu for one night okay and it totally added to the experience yeah absolutely and we We had the chance to maybe get a little taste of Chengdu, right?
Not that much time, but we still had a chance to go through the city center, right?
And experience the Chengdu style.
And you saved a bit of money too, yeah?
Of course. Yeah. Well, that's called indirect flights, right?
International travel, that is pretty common. But what's kind of new here is that domestic flights or airlines are sort of capitalizing on this as well.
creating these uh routes that you can stop at a you know for a layover for maybe 24 hours at another chinese city and this is domestic traveling and then people are rejoicing because this sometimes means that the flight ticket is actually cheaper with this boomerang kind of flight than let's say getting a ticket of high -speed rail to travel from a to c basically but now you also get to stop at the b b place in the middle yeah yeah and yeah it's kind of like i said it's a huge bonus because it seemed it's seemingly a an inconvenience a long layover but hey if you've got the time then why not use
it yes absolutely and apart from traveling what else are people spending this summer i would think that if you're a young person and finally uh you're you've graduated from high school and it's maybe a good time to ask mom and dad to give you that bright a bright new shiny laptop maybe earbuds as well headphones i I mean, there are plenty of electronics that I think it's the right time to ask mom and dad to get you.
I think you just named two of the big three, right?
Purchasing time. Many brands actually run their own promotions during this season.
Back to School Time, Fan Xiaoji, or they'll offer special educational discounts for graduate students or students, basically.
So and when it comes to electronics, the market is stretching in both directions on one end.
Soon to be college students are going all out with their big three back to school buys phones, laptops and tablets.
Those are the big three.
Yeah. And with price tags now easily hitting ten thousand yuan for all of them.
That's about one fourteen hundred dollars.
On the other hand, smart tech is gaining traction among kids and young adults.
smart watches learning devices and reading pens that that means you can you go through all of the lines with that electronic pen and it will read it out and you can maybe learn words English words from these learning devices there's a speaker on the pen it is I've not heard of this before yeah and these things are becoming go -to purchases and making new growth in the summer economy as a whole yeah well this is kind of like uh getting ahead with the back to school purchases i think but sometimes um you kind of need to work your way with mom and dad because a lot of this stuff is really expensive
and that reading pen i don't have a child now but good luck convincing me if one day i do have a child and she or he is asking mom i need like what two hundred dollars yeah to To get a reading pen, I just feel that, you know, the well soon to be young adult probably will only use it for one semester or less and just throw it aside.
I actually saw the potential of these kind of equipment.
The scenario that I saw is that the parents do not that familiar with English or English words.
And then the kids need to learn English and they can learn through this.
and they can read it out.
And that's at least the correct and standardized pronunciation for kids.
And that's quite easy and convenient to use.
Yeah, because you could learn the proper pronunciation there, I guess, right?
And also how time has changed.
I can't remember when, but at least for a decade or more, electronics have become, you know, the popular thing that young people want when they go to college.
Back in the day, well maybe this is just, you know, the advancement of technology, because back in the day for my parents' generation of course there was really no computers around or internet back then and then, you know, it was just, you would never have imagined this kind of thing become the standard sort of gift to have or sort of like like the default equipment you need to go attend college, you know?
But now this is what it's like in all schools around China, I suppose.
Yeah, and a long time ago, you go to the computer shop, you have to give a pack of cigarettes to the computer guy so he can, no, well, that was restricted to the driving schools.
That's a good thing, I suppose.
Classes, too, have become popular.
There's an interest during this time of year in things like music and art and sports, and also, thanks to popular ancient -style dramas, traditional Chinese instruments.
Those are making a big comeback, apparently, as well.
Then you've got your practical skills that are hot, like video editing, office software, peer -to -peer learning is trending, kids are forming groups to learn together, which is a really fun thing.
I love the video editing, That kind of office software learning, I think that's a really great tool for kids to acquire if they haven't acquired it already as they're getting ready for their university years.
Just with so much social media influence and seemingly everything these days.
Yeah, and it can be very helpful when you're getting college with all of that skills.
Because you don't know what kind of form you're going to have for your class or subject.
True. Yeah, well, this sounds like, you know, those parents who are very well -intentioned and they want their kids to plan ahead and maybe some of these kids or teenagers or, you know, the students, they want to plan ahead as well.
They want to sign up.
Well, maybe some of them would want this.
Not all, obviously.
I remember I just wanted to have fun during the holiday time.
But yes, some of them want to study ahead of time, or at least be prepared with these practical skills, like you guys have mentioned.
And also for those who want to study abroad, you know, not necessarily for the high school graduates, but for younger teenagers as well.
you know sometimes they would attend language prep courses uh getting them ready for TOEFL and IELTS and other are there other maybe mainly these are the two big ones uh english language examinations and also there's one other aspect which um can really divide people's opinion on that is the beauty economy and what does this entail i suppose upgrade your looks yeah i think uh it also make the same makes sense at the same way as people like apply for driving school because they have a huge bunch of time for no matter it's recovering or just hiding at home because you may need to uh do some make
over for your face maybe get um get your braces is that what it called yeah get your braces to fix your teeth yeah and um maybe get some other alteration on your face facial alterations um okay get the what's that called your eye Eyelashes?
Double eyelashes. Yeah, the eyelid thing.
Or LASIK, or the vision correction surgery or procedure.
So you can go attend college without your glasses.
Yeah, I think, I'm not sure if this is true in China, but from my experience of living in Korea, where schools will often have restrictions on how much freedom students can have in terms of their own self -expression, like hair color dyeing their hair pink or purple or green or whatever and makeup and accessories so I think after high school when you have that you know you're a palette you're you're an empty canvas yeah and a palette so to speak so I think that's why it's a popular time for students to kind of show who they are a little bit through their experiment yeah yeah it's the best it's
the best time to be a young person like i really like that metaphor you used of um you know being the blank canvas and uh in china usually high school can be pretty strict in terms of student management um so in a lot of schools in the name of not creating extra distractions for students um the students are asked to all have the same haircut and really short haircut and i know some some girls, you know, they've been waiting for this time to finally, when the restrictions lifted and you're becoming a young adult and dye your hair pink or something like that and, you know, experiment.
And that's a great feeling.
And we all go through these colorful phases, or I hope you do, because I think, and then gradually you'll know what kind of person you are and want to be.
and that and what color suits you yeah and i went back to black
