--- title: Hong Kong Toddlers have Photos Altered to Help Them Get Into School description: Parents eager to get kids into certain schools are turning to professional studios and photoshopped pictures to improve admission chances canonical: https://time.com/41351/hong-kong-children-babies-photoshop-for-school-admission/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-28T10:18:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:47.216Z og:title: Hong Kong Toddlers have Photos Altered to Help Them Get Into School og:description: Parents eager to get kids into certain schools are turning to professional studios and photoshopped pictures to improve admission chances og:url: https://time.com/41351/hong-kong-children-babies-photoshop-for-school-admission/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt530f0ec17d7969a2/698687c4cd804dee50cc9fcb/rtx189vx.jpg?branch=production&width=800&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 450 og:image:alt: Students, who live in Shenzhen, leave their school at a public housing estate in Hong Kong, before crossing the border back to mainland China og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hong Kong Toddlers have Photos Altered to Help Them Get Into School twitter:description: Parents eager to get kids into certain schools are turning to professional studios and photoshopped pictures to improve admission chances twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt530f0ec17d7969a2/698687c4cd804dee50cc9fcb/rtx189vx.jpg?branch=production&width=800&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hong Kong Parents Are Photoshopping Their Babies' Photos to Help Them Get Into Kindergarten > Sponsored content. 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Bobby Yip—Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Mar 28, 2014 10:18 AM UTC In the fight to get their kids accepted into the best play groups, kindergartens and schools in Hong Kong, some parents are having their offspring photographed at professional studios, and having the images photoshopped to make the kids look “perfect,” the [South China Morning Post](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1458730/photoshop-fight-place-best-schools) reports. The kids, often toddlers so young that they cannot walk, are being photographed in settings to convey different personality traits that will appeal to the principals deciding on admissions — qualities such as “maturity,” or having an “outgoing nature.” Some of the children are not even a year old. Parents are also having their children photographed next to certificates and awards. One professional photographer, Yim Chi-lung, said he was asked to take photos of a five-year-old standing in front of 25 trophies and medals. Admission documents, even for preschool, can consist of 30 to 40 pages of photographs and documents. According to Dr. Doris Cheng Pui-wah, director of Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the photoshopping trend reflects a growing inequality in Hong Kong. “It demonstrates that the standards vary very much between schools, and that there is a growing inequality among the schools. If there wasn’t such a big difference in quality, the parent’s wouldn’t have to worry about getting their kid into the right school”. \[[South China Morning Post](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1458730/photoshop-fight-place-best-schools)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/41351/hong-kong-children-babies-photoshop-for-school-admission/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/41351/hong-kong-children-babies-photoshop-for-school-admission/"},"headline":"Hong Kong Parents Are Photoshopping Their Babies' Photos to Help Them Get Into Kindergarten","datePublished":"2014-03-28T10:18:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:47.216Z","description":"The pressure on Hong Kong children to be achievers now starts before their first birthday","url":"https://time.com/41351/hong-kong-children-babies-photoshop-for-school-admission/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Hong Kong","kids","Schools"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt530f0ec17d7969a2/698687c4cd804dee50cc9fcb/rtx189vx.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt530f0ec17d7969a2/698687c4cd804dee50cc9fcb/rtx189vx.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Students, who live in Shenzhen, leave their school at a public housing estate in Hong Kong, before crossing the border back to mainland China","caption":"Students, who live in Shenzhen, leave their school at a public housing estate in Hong Kong, before crossing the border back to mainland China","creditText":"Bobby Yip—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/41351/hong-kong-children-babies-photoshop-for-school-admission/","name":"Hong Kong Parents Are Photoshopping Their Babies' Photos to Help Them Get Into Kindergarten"}}]}] ```