Fairy tales, picture books, children's games, going to parks with parents; all these childhood memories are becoming strange to today's children in China.

Beijing-based China Youth Daily reports that the free time for Chinese primary school students is about 4 and a half hours per day, while children in the US and Japan enjoy over 8 hours of leisure time.

Most children have to attend various training classes after school, especially during the weekends. Traditional childhood activities are replaced by cartoons, computer games, and virtual chatting.

When the children grow up, statistics show that nearly 90 percent of them find their life has been kept busy, as in their childhood.

(CRI October 19, 2005)