The sinking middle class is fleeing en masse from the "study-abroad paradise."

Author | Yang Zi

Editor | Li Xiaotian

Six months after the child returned to Guangzhou from Chiang Mai to attend school, Ms. Li had a dream. In the dream, the familiar bird calls of Chiang Mai echoed through the Montessori school craft classroom where her son used to have classes, her son outside looking at her, suddenly crying loudly: “Mom, I want to go back to school.”

“Then I took the child back from Guangzhou to Chiang Mai,” Ms. Li said.

In 2021, Ms. Li took her 3-year-old son to Thailand for school, then returned to Guangzhou due to her and her husband’s long-distance relationship. “I felt the child had already adapted to the Thai environment and education. We came back around mid-2025, but because of changes in the educational environment, the child seemed less talkative. No choice, still prioritizing the child, so we went back to Chiang Mai. At that time, my husband and I hugged and cried together; long-distance might be a path we have to grit our teeth and walk.”

2021 was an unusual year. At that time, the pandemic was spreading globally, and anxiety and panic lingered in everyone’s hearts; domestically, “raising kids” (“jī niú”), “involution” (“nèi juǎn”), and “996” became trending online buzzwords, prompting East Asian families who valued education to seek new pathways for advancement; meanwhile, intensified US-China competition and global blockades during the pandemic made studying in the US seem out of reach.

Parents feeling lost and anxious needed new directions, and Thailand became a temporary landing point.

It was also around 2021 that the number of Chinese international students in Thailand exploded. According to Statista and Fulcrum data, the total number of Chinese students in Thailand surged from about 6,200 in 2016 to approximately 28,000 in 2024. Of these, 59% of the growth occurred between 2020 and 2023, and among the new Chinese students, children aged 3-15 (kindergarten to middle school) saw a significant increase.

Thailand is seen as a utopia for parents fleeing “raising kids” (“jī niú”), “involution” (“nèi juǎn”), and “996.” Whether it’s the cost of living, geographic location, or the development direction for internationalized students, receiving education in Thailand is a good choice. However, recently many Thai guardians accompanying their children have expressed “this route is blocked, returning home,” so what remains of this Southeast Asian sanctuary once the filter is shattered?

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By 2024-2025, Thailand has over 250 international schools, making it one of the countries in Asia with the most international schools and the most complete curricula.

Tracing back to Thailand’s first formal international school, it can be linked to Bangkok International School (BIS) established in 1951. However, at that time, Thai education law prohibited international schools from enrolling Thai nationals; the school’s