Learning Childcare At Beijing's Nanny University

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 20: Chinese women training to be qualified nannies, known in China as ayis, learn techniqiues with plastic babies at the Ayi University on October 20, 2016 in Beijing, China. The Ayi University training program teaches childcare, early education, housekeeping, and other domestic skills. The eight-day course costs US $250, and provides successful participants with a certificate to present to prospective employers. Most of the women attending the program are migrants from villages and cities across China who have moved to the capital to earn income to send home to their own families. China's burgeoning middle class has boosted demand for domestic help in urban areas, and the need for qualified childcare is expected to grow. In 2015, the government dismantled its controversial 'one child policy' as a means of rebalancing China's aging population in order to stave off a demographic crisis. Couples are now allowed to have two children, though the availability and cost of quality childcare is cited as an obstacle for many middle class parents who want larger families. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)