"The incidence of myopia in China's children has gone from number four in the world in 1998 to number two," Professor Li Chengye, a pediatrics specialist at Beijing Medical College, recently revealed. The country with the highest rate of nearsightedness in the world is Japan.

At the end of the 1990s, 55% of China's children were myopic. Between 50-60% of children are nearsighted in developed countries.

Myopia among Chinese children has risen every year. In the mid-1970s, only 15-20% of children in China were nearsighted. But as more and more small- and mid-sized towns grew into big cities, the age of children who needed classes went down.

According to a report by the China Youth Activity Center, most of the elementary and middle school students' nearsightedness is caused by reading by the light in the evening, which puts long term strains on the eyes. Approximately 55% of the nearsighted children is caused by hereditary myopia.