Private-school Funding Faces Detention

(Beijing) — Liang Yimei, who runs several private schools and kindergartens (preschools) for rural migrant children in the eastern industrial hub of Suzhou, looks pensive when he talks about a new government rule that threatens to put him out of business.

The 60-year-old Liang (not his real name) had already bought a tract of land and invested 13 million yuan ($1.9 million) with two partners to build another school in central China's Hubei province — this time targeting more-affluent middle-class children — when a sudden rule change threw his plans in limbo.