The summer holidays are coming and many children will be studying computers and other extracurricular subjects during the two-month break. Our reporter Mi Jiayi takes a look at the boom in computer coding classes.

Zheng Han is a ninth grade student who has just finished her entrance exams for senior high. The classes don't stop in the summer, however -- she's now learning how to code for computers. This is just her second class, but she's already done some programming - drawing a twelve pointed star in different colors. She says learning how to code is a lot different from her regular school lessons. 

ZHENG HAN STUDENT "I need to figure out a lot things for coding. For example if I want the computer to draw a five-pointed star, I need to calculate the degree of each angle, and decide the color of each section. You need to know how to put different things together."

Zheng says learning how to program has helped her become more logical. She is just one of three hundred students at this coding school's summer session, attending classes each weekday and on the weekends too. The classes usually have fewer than five students, which allows a lot of time for questions -- time well spent as the lessons cost between 250 yuan and 700 yuan each. The school, Coding March, was founded over a year ago, evolving from coaching sessions offered by graduate students. One of the founders told us that the market for coding schools is booming -- two years ago, the school has only four competitors, but this year there are more than a dozen. The demand is so high that finding qualified teachers has become a challenge.

RAY YANG, CO-FOUNDER CODING MARCH "It is very difficult to find experienced programming teachers, by experienced I mean those with three to five years of teaching experience. But luckily we've been able to hire former engineers from tech companies. One third of our teachers are former programmers."

So why has coding become so popular for children? In the past, coding classes were only available as university majors. But in July last year, the government said it would start promoting more coding classes in primary and middle schools, in a bid to support the country's artificial intelligence development. One industry analyst says that as internet companies have become more and more important, people have begun to realize the importance of understanding how things work at a young age.

LI XIANG, SENIOR ANALYST CBN DATA "It's the Age of the Internet, and people are paying a lot of attention to top internet developments, like artificial intelligence. Coding supports these developments. So more and more parents have realized that the earlier they can get their children involved in the environment, the more they will be ready to playing leading roles in the future. That demand created the market, and more players are getting in."

Li estimates that the number of coding students below university level will reach two million in 2019 -- a big market for both coding schools and capital investors. But there is a warning from the experts -- since there is as yet no standard system to evaluate the teaching, parents should be careful when they sign their children up for coding classes.