A Pupil's Tale: The Beijing experience

Lu Xiao Xiao has one ambition - to get enough marks in her senior-middle school exams to earn a place at university to study architecture.

The 15-year-old student at the Beijing No 8 Middle School is spending as much of her spare time as possible studying in order to achieve her ambitions.

"It is not just me. All my friends study hard. We have little competitions amongst each other to see who gets the best marks," she says.

Xiao Xiao is taking 12 subjects and her best are the science subjects - physics, biology and chemistry. She is also studying English, maths, Chinese, Chinese history, computers, geography and physical education.

Xiao Xiao's school is in the centre of Beijing and, unlike some schools in rural China, is well equipped.

There are 3,000 students in the school and 50 students in Xiao Xiao's class alone. School starts at the early at 7.30 a.m. and finishes at 3 p.m. Some nights Xiao Xiao is not finished her studies until 11 p.m. "But I do try and play basketball after school sometimes to get some exercise," she says.

Senior-middle school is not compulsory and Xiao Xiao's parents are paying £80 a term for the privilege. They also pay extra for books and equipment.

In two years' time, Xiao Xiao, along with thousands of other senior middleschool hopefuls in Beijing, will sit exams that will determine her future. She is already fully focused on that goal. For one so young, her determination and dedication is commendable.

"There were no packed bookshelves, no computers and no art equipment. Apart from a blackboard and one chart, the walls were bare. The wooden desks and chairs were in poor condition and the only source of heat was a coal stove" - Miriam Donohoe on her experience of a primary school in rural China.