British private schools are adapting to a changing market in China

In the early 2000s, British private schools began setting up shop in China, eager to leverage their reputation for excellence in exchange for the opportunity to add to their bottom line by educating the children of one of the world’s fastest-growing and most affluent middle classes. In China, British independent schools—private schools with sister campuses in the UK—operate under two different kinds of licenses. When the schools hold licenses for foreign passport holders, only the children of expatriate workers or the children of Chinese families who have a foreign passport can attend them, and Chinese nationals are barred from admission.