Preparing for the future

Leo Li, a 16-year-old student at Shanghai American School who recently received Apple's 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference scholarship, says coding has become a part of his life.

After assembling his first computer in the fifth grade, Li has demonstrated a talent in this field. For instance, he has developed a program to automatically reply to instant messages on WeChat to avoid wasting time, and has created a pet-photo-sharing app as a tribute to his pet of 13 years, a golden retriever that died in 2016.

Some of the young programmers are also socially responsible.

Gao Lin, an 11-year-old student from Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, recalls being inspired to create an app while reading news about child trafficking. He designed a gaming app titled Battle against Child Traffickers.

Coding has also hooked parents who believe the future will be dominated by computers.

Jiang Haiyang, a father in Hangzhou, recently paid 13,000 yuan ($1,874) for a 150-hour coding-instruction project for his 9-year-old son.

"The future will be an era of artificial intelligence. I hope he won't lag behind. Besides, coding can enhance concentration and transfer his interest in computer games to something more serious," Jiang says.