Coding: Not just for nerds

Dong Zhengyang's first encounter with coding was in his ninth grade. He started taking free online courses after his teacher said that the skill would be highly sought after in various fields in the future.

The 18-year-old credits coding for helping him become more analytical and think more critically. He became so good at writing codes that he even published papers on Scientific Citation Index which later helped him to win admission offers from Stanford University and Columbia University.

Dong is among the many youths in China today who are jumping on the coding bandwagon. Angel Zhou, a 7-year-old girl from Wellington College International Shanghai, is another.