According to a recent survey of Chinese cities, many children are denied the pleasures and benefits of play, usually considered a natural part of a child's life. 

The Beijing Morning Post reported this month that 35.6 percent of children surveyed disagreed with the statement "children live to play and have fun" -- even higher than the 22.6 percent of adults who disagreed with it.

The survey was conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and involved over 2,400 children mainly from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu, chosen because of their comparatively advanced economies. The ages of the children surveyed were not reported.

The report said that 38.4 percent of children disagreed with the view that "play is a form of learning," much more than their parents of whom only 21.9 percent disagreed.

The investigation found that children were kept on campus for nearly 60 hours a week, 48 percent more than an adult's average working week. Homework also occupied much of their spare time, and their free time averaged only 60 percent that of adults.

Even at weekends, the children only had one-tenth the leisure time of their parents.

Their average daily time spent in school was 8.6 hours, but some stayed for as long as 12 hours.

Forty-two percent of children arrived at school before 7 AM, while 40 percent took various lessons after school and 60 percent at weekends.

Over 30 percent of children thought watching TV and surfing the Internet harmed their studies. Forty percent thought study was more important than other pursuits, including sports, which they thought should only be considered when they had spare time.

As parents and schools increasingly treat examination marks as the only standard with which to judge their children's progress, it seems that many children may be taking on the same attitude. Experts have expressed concern that this may restrict their happiness and interfere with their childhood.

A survey in 2000 of the basic physical indexes of children and teenagers found that muscle strength, endurance and suppleness were much lower than those of young people in 1985 and 1995, thought to be due to a lack of activity.

(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, January 30, 2005)