Chinese students' eagerness for higher quality education is well documented but, in recent years, many are turning to the Internet for their learning needs. 

In 2013, Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web, which gained access to the Chinese market, and online learning suddenly took off.

According to the China Industrial Information Network, over 100 million people took online classes last year - more than doubling that of 2010. 

The number of people taking online classes is expected to continue to grow at an annual average of 15%.

Analysts believe China could become one of the world's most vibrant online education markets, given its growing spending power and under-supply of educational resources, as well as the introduction of the two-child policy.

“Well, there is clearly a tremendous demand for online education. I think there are three reasons for that. First one is cultural. The Chinese people have valued education for thousands of years. The second reason is technological. Especially now, more and more Chinese have access to the interview through their mobile phones, faster bandwidth and more powerful processors. And finally, it's political. In the recent concluded 19th Party Congress, Xi Jinping emphasized one of the challenges facing China today is unequal and unbalanced development, so online education is potentially a very powerful tool for addressing this unequal and unbalanced development,” said Andy Mok, the managing director of Red Pagoda Resources.

The whole concept of online education, however, is often being challenged and criticized.  

A large number of online education platforms are hiring instructors without any qualifications. Fees for online courses are being set without standard rules or regulations.

“How should you phrase or define the certification of the teachers - who should be qualified to teach online? What should be the size of the class? So there are a lot of things that need to be defined and need to come to the attention of the regulators.," noted Amy Li, the founding director of Pioneer Academics.

Meanwhile, some of the more reputable and famous online teachers could be earning tens of thousands of dollars a month. For example, one physics teacher from a famous high school in Beijing charges each student 240 dollars per semester, and he has more than two thousand students in his online class.