Longer hours, better grades? China pushes weekend breaks for high school students, parents push back

The school day begins just after 7.30am and ends past 9.40pm, well after nightfall. Two breaks punctuate the gruelling 14-hour study stretch - a two-hour lunch recess and a one-hour dinner break. This is the rhythm of academic life for Nian Nian (not her real name), a second-year high school student in China’s Yichun city in south-eastern Jiangxi province."My days in school are spent doing almost