"They conduct mechanical drills in learning the language, the numbers, some science concepts," said To-chan Sing-pui, a lecturer who specialises in curriculum development at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

While many have questioned how meaningful these results [international standardised tests co-ordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2010] were, as the Chinese students were all from Shanghai, which has the best education standards in the country, they illustrate the strides the country has made in the decades since the Cultural Revolution, when youngsters were encouraged to denounce their teachers.