"Cyber teachers" drive demand for online education

Online courses covering language learning, psychology, photography, design and those that help prepare candidates to sit for civil service examinations are booming in China, Shanghai-based start-up Hujiang said today. 

In 2019, China’s online education market is set to generate 272.7 billion yuan (US$43.5 billion) in revenue, up from 194.1 billion yuan in 2017, according to research firm iResearch. 

More than 30,000 “cyber teachers” have opened online courses on Hujiang's platform which serves around 10 million users now. About 20 percent of the teachers — some working part-time — are able to earn over 100,000 yuan annually, according to a Hujiang report.

Hujiang, which used to focus on online courses for language learning, found a “huge market potential” for non-language courses. On Hujiang’s platform CCTalk, language courses on Korean, Japanese and children's English now account for less than half of the total courses, said Fu Cairui, Hujiang’s chief executive and chairman.

Founded in 2001, Hujiang has secured several rounds of financing. It debuted a new fund in September with government-backed FTZ (Free Trade Zone) Fund and Wenxin Media to share resources.