By comparison, a bilingual local Chinese would be hard pressed to earn 65,000 yuan a year.

In Beijing, kindergartens with the word "international" in their names commonly employ foreign teachers, mainly from Europe and the US.

A changing room at an international kindergarten in Beijing. More Chinese parents want to send their children to international kindergartens. Zhang Tao / China Daily

Yan says many middle- and upper-class Chinese parents want their children to be independent, creative, elegant - and speak fluent English.

"We encourage children to learn more life skills and team spirit. We don't push them to study subjects they don't like," she says.

"Many parents want to build a solid foundation for their children and give them the foundation to be able to go abroad to study, without the language barrier and the difficulties of living overseas.

"Among those rich parents, many of them have studied and worked abroad. They trust European-style kindergartens," Yan says.

At Montessori kindergartens, simple English is used regularly, with the aim of developing the children's language skills.

The children, from many countries, are also generally free to choose what they want to do.

Although every aspect of education is covered, there is no set timetable and opinions of children will be respected and encouraged. Many international kindergartens offer extracurricular activities such as geography, science, art appreciation, gym, ice-skating and communication skills.

While China's regulations stipulate that international kindergartens should take in only foreigners, the government does allow international institutes to operate bilingual (Chinese and English) kindergartens where local children are allowed to attend.

There are more than 1,200 kindergartens in Beijing, with 445 privately owned and the others affiliated with, or subsidized by, government and military institutions, universities and civil organizations.

Eighteen international institutes are approved to provide kindergarten education, with 16 of them allowed to enroll local pupils, the Beijing municipal commission of education said.

Last year, Zhao Jian, from Beijing's municipal commission of education, said three more childhood educational institutes from Europe, the US and Australia applied for operating licenses to open international kindergartens in Beijing.

There are also six international kindergartens in Shanghai, according to the Shanghai municipal education commission.

Similarly, there are five such kindergartens in Tianjin and eight of them in Guangdong province, figures from the Ministry of Education show.