20211118 Biz spot China after-school tutoring main

The purpose of Chinese President Xi Jinping's new education policies is very clear: "to stop after-school training." (Source photos by AP and Getty Images)

Chinese tutoring companies struggle to reinvent themselves

After crackdown, school operators venture into clothing and farm equipment

CISSY ZHOU, Nikkei staff writer

November 19, 2021 06:04 JST

HONG KONG -- A few short months ago, international investors ascribed a valuation of over $30 billion to New Oriental Education & Technology, one of the giants of China's for-profit tutoring sector, excited over the prospects for the growing and lucrative market.

Yet in a livestream this month on Douyin, the domestic version of TikTok, New Oriental founder Yu Minhong announced a startling pivot. He and several hundred of the company's teachers would henceforth be selling agricultural products via an online platform; the bulk of the tutoring business would be shut down.