'Homebound' lifestyle takes off nationwide
Xu Lening, an English-language teacher at Tunxi No.1 High School in Huangshan, Anhui province, taught two classes online this week－one through video recordings and the other via livestreaming courses.
"I had never imagined working in this way－where teachers are like livestreaming bloggers," Xu said.
More than 600,000 teachers from scores of cities and counties nationwide have been holding lessons on the livestreaming platform Dingding, Alibaba's remote office system in a single day.
ClassIn, an online service provided by educational company EEO, received nearly 3,000 registrations from a range of institutions in just one day and has temporarily expanded the capacity of its computer system by 20 times. However, it has had to restrict the number of new registrations to ensure the system remains stable.
Zhang Lijun, an education veteran and partner at Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital company founded by investor Kai-Fu Lee, said: "The public has acquired more knowledge about online education companies during the epidemic. It will be easier for companies to acquire users at a comparatively lower cost than before the outbreak, and the number of subscribers to online education will rise by about 10 percent.
"In the long run, the outbreak will speed up the integration of online and offline education services. Those who are able to offer solid, stable services will gain an advantage."
Another notable phenomenon saw some 2.32 million people use karaoke services in cyberspace during Spring Festival, according to a report released by online karaoke app Changba and Xiaomi TV, a subsidiary of Xiaomi Corp.
The sector, which traditionally depends heavily on offline karaoke bars, has made a significant switch to online as people look for ways to kill time at home.
