"Only Boiled Potatoes for the Lazy": Parents Pay Up to 2.1 Million Won to Send Children to 'Hardship Camps'

Ten Days Without Phones or Internet, Laboring in Rural Areas
"Correcting Bad Habits and Learning Gratitude"

Among Chinese parents, sending their children to 'rural summer camps' where they are intentionally exposed to hardship is gaining popularity.

Children participating in the rural summer camp. Screenshot from China Bangmyeon Newspaper

According to China Bangmyeon Newspaper and other local media outlets on August 16, rural summer camps have recently become popular in China. The main characteristic of these camps is that children stay in farmhouses and are not allowed to use mobile phones or the internet. Participants must wake up early each day and engage in activities such as chopping firewood, feeding pigs, and harvesting potatoes. Afterward, they sell their harvested crops themselves, receive scores based on the work they have performed, and then exchange those points for daily necessities. If they do not work enough, they may only have boiled potatoes to satisfy their hunger.

Organizers of these camps assert that “Children learn firsthand that earning money through hard work is not easy,” and “participating in the camp is an opportunity to correct bad habits and develop a sense of gratitude.” Rural camps mainly operate in remote villages in southern China, such as Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. The participation fee for a ten-day program ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 yuan (approximately KRW 1,050,000 to KRW 2,100,000).

However, educational experts have noted that a short period of intensive labor alone cannot resolve issues such as addiction to mobile phones or a habit of procrastination. They emphasized that any reflective attitude children exhibit under harsh conditions is merely a short-term stress response and not genuine change, and that ‘enduring hardship’ and ‘character development’ are entirely separate issues. Nonetheless, they added that when children, used to the comforts of city life, move to the countryside, connect more closely with the land, and experience manual labor, there is educational value in expanding their perspectives and awareness.

There has also been considerable debate among local Chinese internet users. Many questioned whether emphasizing hardship for children in sweltering environments without even basic amenities such as air conditioning was an appropriate form of education. In response, camp organizers stressed, “We have prepared a variety of recreational activities to balance work and rest.”

As rural camps have grown in popularity, some parents have even taken waiting numbers in hopes of enrolling their children. However, reactions from parents whose children actually attended the camps have been mixed. Some commented positively, saying “My child enjoyed life at the camp,” and “After attending the camp, my child who was always glued to the phone is now completely different.” Others, however, complained, “There was no improvement in picky eating or procrastination habits.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.