Chinese celebrities' birth tourism

Photos of famous journalist Chai Jing holding her baby girl at Beijing airport have gone viral this week. The popular journalist, host and author reportedly gave birth to in the United States last October, which has triggered another round of discussion about why Chinese celebrities want to give birth in foreign countries.

Photos of famous journalist Chai Jing holding her baby girl at Beijing airport have gone viral this week. [Photo: Sina]

Here are some of the reasons for the stars' enthusiasm to give birth to children abroad and the pressure of being a parent and celebrity.

Foreign nationality means an international education

Famous Kungfu star Zhao Wenzhuo has a daughter and a son who were born in the United States and Hong Kong. Both of them now study in an international school which has adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, a global educational system which is favored by world top-notch universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge. They are educated in English in school and use the same textbooks as their peers all over the world.

Famous Kungfu star Zhao Wenzhuo and his family

To Zhao and parents like him, having children in the United States or Hong Kong means that their children can receive an international education starting from kindergarten and pursue a higher education overseas in the future.

Another famous actress, Dong Jie, has been refused by an international kindergarten because her son has Chinese nationality. Even though she is rich and famous in China, she can not enroll her son for a high-quality kindergarten. In China, many high-end educational resources are occupied by international schools, which is why many Chinese parents want to solve this nationality problem at birth.