Online adult education turns lucrative

Quality content with a personalized touch commands premium price in a growing market driven by 'middle-class anxiety' over careers

For Chen Hua, 28, an automobile engineer in Shanghai, reading out English text aloud after taking pronunciation lessons on a mobile app has become an evening routine. Chen might skip dinner, but wouldn't trade even one language class delivered by the app for anything.

"Haven't been using English much since I left college," said Chen, who graduated from China's prestigious Tongji University in Shanghai. "I now feel the pressure to pick it up using spare time."